Savvy Thakur
Published on: 22 November 2022 at 20:48 IST
The Delhi High Court denied plea of the Future Group’s request for the termination of Amazon’s arbitration proceedings before the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC).
Future’s appeal against the tribunal’s decision to grant Amazon’s request to amend its arbitration claim was also rejected by Justice C Hari Shankar, a single judge.
The court stated that because the tribunal’s orders are interlocutory, it would not be improper for the court to interfere with them.
The court added in its order that, “These petitions are dismissed as not maintainable, reserving liberty with both sides to urge the contentions advanced in these petitions at the appropriate stage.”
In addition, the court stated that it had no opinion on the merits of the dispute between the parties and that the arbitral proceedings could proceed unhindered and unaffected by any observation made in the current judgment.
One of the many legal disputes the companies are involved in is the arbitration, which is related to a deal Amazon made in 2019 to acquire a 49 percent stake in Future Coupons Private Limited (FCPL).
The arbitration between Amazon and Future Group has been heard by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC).
The tribunal denied the Future Group’s two applications to end the proceedings on June 28 of this year.
Future Group, led by Kishore Biyani, argued in its plea that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) had suspended the deal’s clearance in December 2021 because Amazon had failed to notify it of important acquisition details, as required by Section 6(2) of the Competition Act, 2002.
The plea stated that the tribunal order failed to recognize that the CCI order is a legal barrier to the continuation of arbitration proceedings.