New Delhi: A division bench of the Delhi High Court on Monday stayed a single judge’s order restraining Future Retail Ltd’s (FRL) Rs 24,713 crore deal with Reliance to sell retail, warehousing, and logistics businesses.
The US e-commerce giant Amazon had earlier objected to the deal and challenged it legally.
Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh ordered a stay until April 30 in the March 18 ruling of Justice JR Midha in the case. The judge had asked Future Group to not go ahead with the deal. The bench also issued a notice to Amazon on Future Group’s appeal challenging the March 18 ruling on the deal.
The bench also stayed the single judge’s order to attach assets of Future Group’s Kishore Biyani and others and his direction imposing a cost of Rs 20 lakh on the Future Group as well as its directors.
The judge had asked them to deposit the money in the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund wishing two weeks for being used for providing Covid-19 vaccination to senior citizens of the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category.
His order had come on Amazon’s plea seeking direction to order enforcement of the Emergency Award (EA) by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) on October 25, 2020. The EA restrained Future Retail from going ahead with the deal with Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL).
Senior advocate Harish Salve, who represented the Future Group, urged the court to stay all the directions passed by the single judge on March 18. He argued that the division had earlier stayed the ad-interim order passed by the single judge, and it was not stayed by the Supreme Court, which is also “seized of the matter”.
Representing Amazon, senior lawyer Gopal Subramaniam sought to bring the single judge’s order to the Supreme Court’s notice for further directions.
“Since the matter is presently before the Supreme Court and listed for hearing on April 27, we will not do anything which is inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s order. Whatever order has been passed (by the single judge), it is implied that it is subject to the Supreme Court’s order,” he said.
The division bench heard an appeal filed by the Future Group against the single judge’s order upholding the SIAC’s EA order, restraining the Future-Reliance deal.
The Future Group and Amazon have been locked in a battle after the US-based company took FRL into emergency arbitration over an alleged breach of a contract between them.
(VP)