Greeva Garg –
Published on August 06, 2021, 03:30 IST
The Supreme Court of India ruled in favour of e-commerce giant Amazon in its dispute against the proposed Rs. 24,713 crores merger deal between Future Retail Limited and Reliance Retail.
The Apex Court upheld the Judgment of the Delhi High Court passed earlier and also stated that the Emergency Award passed by the Singapore arbitrator stalling the Future-Reliance deal is enforceable under Indian Laws.
The division bench comprising of Justice Rohinton F. Nariman and B.R. Gavai observed in the Judgment that, “We have framed 2 questions and answered them. Emergency arbitrator’s award holds good under Section 17(1) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act and single Judge’s order for such award cannot be appealed under Section 37(2) of the Arbitration Act.”
In the matter of Amazon.Com NV Investment Holdings vs Future Retail Ltd and Others, the bench reserved the Judgment on July 29 after considering all the submissions in the matter by Senior Advocates Gopal Subramanium for Amazon and Harish Salve for Future Retail Limited.
On March 18, a single bench of Justice JR Midha of the Delhi High Court had allowed the petition filed by Amazon under Section 17(2) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 read with Order XXXIX Rule 2A and Section 151 of Code of Civil Procedure for enforcement of the interim order dated 25th October 2020 passed by the Emergency Arbitrator.
Amazon has moved the Supreme Court challenging an order dated March 22 passed by a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court staying March 18 order which had directed upheld the Emergency Award passed by a Singapore Tribunal halting the Reliance-Future deal.
Click here to Read/Download the Order
Also Read: Battle of the Titans: A Deep Dive into the Amazon Vs Future & Reliance Case