Synopsis: The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday barring Future Retail Ltd (FRL) from proceeding with its merger with Reliance Retail, which is enforceable in Indian law, giving Amazon a major victory in the Future Retail-Reliance Retail case. The verdict was delivered today by a bench of justices led by RF Nariman and BR Gavai.
After filing a plea against a Rs 24,713 crore merger of Future Retail Limited (FRL) and Reliance Retail, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of e-commerce behemoth Amazon.com.
The emergency award is enforceable under Indian law, according to the top court bench, which affirmed a previous Delhi High Court decision. “The emergency award order is an order within Section 17 (1) and can be enforced under Section 17(2) of the Arbitration Act,” the Supreme Court said.
The Supreme Court had reserved its decision on Amazon’s appeals against the Future Retail Limited -Reliance Retail transaction on Thursday.
The deal has been the subject of a bitter legal battle between Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC and Future Retail Limited, with the US-based company filing a petition in the Supreme Court claiming that the Singapore Emergency Arbitrator (EA) award barring Future Retail Limited from proceeding with the merger was valid and enforceable.
In the last hearing, senior advocate Harish Salve, who represented Future Retail, cited judgments on the validity and enforceability of arbitral awards and stated that there was no concept of Emergency Arbitrator under Indian law on arbitration and that there was no arbitration agreement to that effect.
According to Salve, there is no provision for Emergency Arbitrator in Indian law, and “it cannot be done through the process of construction”. Salve made the remark in response to a single-judge ruling of the Delhi High Court upholding the Emergency Arbitrator’s award as genuine.
Meanwhile, Amazon’s legal representative, lawyer Gopal Subramanium, told the court that the Biyani’s of the Future Group had bargained with it to enter into certain agreements and that they are bound by the Emergency Arbitrator ruling barring Future Retail Limited from proceeding with their merger with Reliance Retail.
Amazon has already appealed to the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court’s division bench ruling approving the Reliance- Future Retail Limited agreement. On February 8, the division bench stayed a single-judge order to Future Retail Limited and other agencies to maintain the status quo on the deal.
The interim order was issued in response to Future Retail Limited’s appeal of a single judge’s February 2 ruling in favour of the US corporation, stating that the Emergency Arbitrator’s award was valid and enforceable.
