A division bench of the Delhi High Court Wednesday stayed proceedings in an ongoing Singapore arbitration case between Amazon and Future Group, quashing a single judge’s ruling from the day before that declined to halt them. The Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) stopped hearings when informed of the latest decision by the lawyers of Future Group on Wednesday evening, according to a person familiar with the development. The Future Group had petitioned the HC to order the stoppage.
“We stay the proceedings of the arbitral tribunal till the next date of hearing (February 1). We also stay the order of the single judge,” the division bench said on Wednesday after an emergency hearing. The court also said that there was prima facie a case in Future Group’s favour in light of the Competition Commission of India’s recent order.
Amazon may Move SC
CCI suspended its earlier approval of Amazon’s investment in Future Coupons Pvt Ltd (FCPL) in an order last month.
Delhi High Court chief justice DN Patel and justice Jyoti Singh said on Wednesday that if the SIAC proceedings were not stayed it could cause “irreparable loss” to the Indian retail group.Future Retail Ltd (FRL) and FCPL had approached the division bench after the single-judge bench had dismissed their two separate petitions on the same matter.
One of the SIAC panel members asked, “Does it mean we can go home now?” according to the person cited above, after the tribunal was informed of the high court ruling.
In his Tuesday order, justice Amit Bansal had said the court couldn’t direct the tribunal’s schedule. Future Group wanted the court to tell the SIAC to hear its plea on terminating the arbitration process instead of the scheduled last leg of the hearing in the case between Amazon and Future.
Amazon may appeal to the Supreme Court against the Wednesday division bench order, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Amazon did not respond to an email seeking comment. Amazon had moved the SIAC in 2020 against Future’s plan to sell retail assets to Reliance Retail in a Rs 25,000 crore deal. Future was barred from doing so because of its 2019 investment agreement with Amazon as part of the latter’s acquisition of a 49% stake in FCPL.