Amazon.com Inc. won relief in a see-saw legal battle with Kishore Biyani’s Future Group after the Delhi high court on Thursday ordered Future Retail Ltd not to take any further steps to sell its assets to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd.
The single-judge bench of Justice J.R. Midha ruled that Future Retail has “wilfully violated Singapore International Arbitration Centre’s (SIAC’s) emergency order”, holding that the tribunal’s ruling is legally enforceable in India under the country’s arbitration law.
On 25 October, SIAC restrained Future Retail from taking steps to complete the deal with Ambani’s companies. Amazon had challenged Future Group’s ₹24,713 crore asset sale to Reliance Industries on the grounds that it violated a contract that a Future Group unit had entered with Amazon for an investment in a group firm.
According to the August 2019 agreement between Amazon and Future Group, the Indian group can’t sell its retail assets to 30 entities, including Reliance Industries, without Amazon’s prior consent.
On Thursday, the court also ordered the attachment of all properties of Kishore Biyani and directors of Future Group firms.
The high court also directed Future Group and its directors to deposit ₹20 lakh in the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund to provide covid-19 vaccines to the elderly poor.
The high court has ordered that a show cause notice be served on Future Group seeking an explanation as to why its founder, Kishore Biyani, and other directors not be kept in civil detention for three months for deliberately violating the emergency arbitrator’s order.
Spokespeople for Future Group and Amazon declined to comment.
