Supreme Court Directs Amazon, Future To Urge NCLAT For Speedy Disposal Of Case

Supreme Court asked Amazon and Future Group to urge NCLAT for speedy disposal of caseThe Supreme Court on Wednesday directed e-commerce company Amazon and Future Group to urge National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) for a speedy disposal of the case.Amazon had filed a plea in top court against the Delhi High Court order, which stayed the ongoing arbitration proceedings before an arbitral tribunal over Future Retail’s deal with Reliance.Supreme Court told Amazon that in order to take a decision on the Singapore arbitration proceedings, clarity is first needed from NCLAT.The suggestion was mooted by a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana while adjourning to March 9, the hearing on Amazon’s appeal against the January 5 order of the Delhi High Court staying the ongoing arbitration proceedings before an arbitral tribunal over Future Retail’s Rs 24,500-crore merger deal with Reliance Retail.The bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli, deferred the hearing after brief arguments on being told that the NCLAT is hearing another appeal of Amazon related to the merger deal.In today’s hearing, senior advocate Gopal Subramanium appeared for Amazon and said that the tribunal proceedings should be allowed to resume and assured that the tribunal would be carrying out the proceedings expeditiously.Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for Future and opposed Amazon’s plea saying that even CCI had found that Amazon misrepresented facts while signing the deal with Future.NCLAT is scheduled to hear on February 25, Amazon’s challenge to Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) order.The CCI in an order dated December 18 order, had suspended its own approval for the 2019 Amazon-Future deal over non-disclosure of relevant information by Amazon. The competition regulator had also imposed a fine of Rs 202 crores on Amazon.The Supreme Court has been hearing a batch of pleas filed by Amazon that pertain to enforcement of the order passed by an emergency arbitrator in Singapore, which stopped Future group from proceeding with its Rs 24,713 crore asset sale deal with Reliance.Amazon had objected to Future’s deal with Reliance.Amazon and Future Group have been locked in a legal tussle after the US e-commerce giant dragged the latter to arbitration at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre in October 2020.



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