delhi high court refuses to interfere, arbitration court will decide on future vs amazon

Single-judge Justice Amit Bansal, in his 21-page order, said that “there is no suggestion that the arbitral tribunal has denied equal opportunity to the parties or that the tribunal is not accommodating the arguments of Future Group firms”.

This means that the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC) will be the adjudicating authority. The SIAC is scheduled to begin hearing the case on Wednesday. Till January 7, it will hear expert witnesses on Amazon’s arbitration plea seeking a stay on the deal with the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Group and damages. Amazon had alleged breach of contract by Future Group as its deal with Future Coupons Pvt Ltd in 2019 barred Future Group from entering into any deal with Reliance Group.

On January 8, the SIAC will hear the arguments of Future Group, where the Kishor Biyani-led firm is seeking quashing of arbitration proceedings after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) suspended the 2019 tussle between the US-retail major and Future Coupons. Is done.

The order follows a termination application filed by Future Group before a Delhi Court seeking that the arbitration proceedings initiated by Amazon in SIAC be set aside. In the petition, Future Group had further submitted that the SIAC should have heard the group’s arguments on quashing the proceedings instead of hearing expert witnesses.

The Delhi High Court, while hearing the matter, had reserved its decision on Monday. Shares of Future Retail closed with a gain of 3.6 percent before the decision 51.80 on NSE.

Justice Bansal further said in the order the mere imposition of strict time limits or the denial of adjournment requests of the Arbitral Tribunal, or the order in which the Arbital Tribunal evaluates the petitions of the parties, cannot be used to argue that The orders of the Arbital Tribunal are “perverted”. or “lack of inherent jurisdiction”.

Rohatgi, a senior counsel for Future Coupons, on Monday asked the High Court to compel the tribunal to hold such proceedings as “futile” and “irrelevant”.

The litigation traces its origins to an order from Competition Watchdog passed on December 17, where it suspended its approval on Future Coupons’ 2019 deal with Amazon. Deal remains suspended till February 17, submission of fresh documents, CCI also imposes a monetary penalty 202 crore on Amazon for “misrepresenting and suppressing” it when it sought approval in 2019.

Future Group then moved the Singapore Arbitration Tribunal on 23 December asking for the arbitration proceedings between Amazon and itself to be terminated.

The SIAC had said that it would hear the application for termination of Future Coupons after hearing the entire matter on January 8.

The tribunal said it would take into account the concerns of Future Coupons while deciding the matter.

Sameer Jain, managing partner, PSL Advocates & Solicitors, is of the view that the CCI has withdrawn the approval but the order is not finalized and Amazon has remedies against it.

“The application is rightly rejected and reflects the current state of law. It is decided that the arbitration agreement is separate from the main agreement and thus can be independently enforced. Whether the essence of the agreement is a breach of law.” It is for the tribunal to determine,” Jain said.

Mohit Saraf & Partners partner Manmeet Singh said the court refused to interfere with the tribunal’s decisions as the dates for hearing and dismissal of expert witnesses were already fixed.

“The court, after examining the records, found that the tribunal has given equal opportunity to both the parties. SIAC is the competent adjudicating authority to decide whether arbitration should be conducted or terminated,” Singh said.

A favorable SIAC decision is important for Future Group as its flagship company Future Retail Ltd has already defaulted 3,495 crore dues and its debt instruments were downgraded to D due as of December 31. The deal between Future and Reliance Group will be shot in the arm for Future Retail’s lenders, which include Union Bank of India, Bank of India, Bank of India. Baroda, State Bank of India, Indian Bank, Central Bank, Axis Bank and IDBI Bank. The future belongs to these banks 6,278 crores. These banks are in the process of seeking exemption from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for labeling Future Retail as a non-performing account (NPA), Mint had reported on January 4.