INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Supreme Court has agreed to expedite Amazon's plea on Future Retail
On Tuesday, the
Supreme Court said that it would expedite the hearing on Amazon's interim plea seeking preservation of Future Retail Limited's (FRL) assets
apart from resumption of arbitration on merger deal with Reliance Retail Supreme Court today said it would list for hearing "as
early as possible" the interim plea of Amazon seeking preservation of Future Retail's assets besides resumption of arbitration over the
merger deal with Reliance Retail.A bench headed by chief justice N V Ramana, which had earlier fixed Amazon's plea for hearing on March 23,
told senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, appearing for the US firm, that one of the judges, Justice Hima Kohli, was unavailable and hence the
hearing cannot take place on the scheduled date.“I think by that time she (Justice Kohli) may come
I will list it as early as possible, subject to the availability of the bench," the chief justice said.Mr Subramanium then urged the bench
to hear the matter on April 1, 2022.Earlier, Amazon had apprehended the "disappearance" of assets and sought an interim order from the top
court to ensure the preservation of assets of Future Retail besides resumption of arbitration over Future's merger deal with Reliance
Retail.The bench had taken note of the allegations of the US firm that the "applecart was being upset" by its rivals and asked the Future
group firms, FRL and Future Coupons Limited (FCPL), to respond to the interim plea of Amazon and fixed the hearing on March 23.Amazon and
Future group are engaged in multi-forum litigation on the issue of Future Retail's merger deal to the tune of Rs 24,500 crore with
Reliance Retail after Amazon dragged the latter to arbitration at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre in October 2020.It has
been alleged by Amazon that on March 3, as many as 600 stores of Future Retail were taken away by Reliance
The plea was vehemently objected to by the Future group lawyers on Tuesday.Supreme Court was told by Amazon that besides seeking resumption
of arbitral proceedings, it wanted an order so that the Future Retail's assets are there for it if it wins the arbitration as the "applecart
was being upset".The bench is hearing Amazon's appeal against the January 5 order of the Delhi High Court, which stayed the arbitration
proceedings before the arbitral tribunal over Future Retail's merger deal with Reliance Retail.
