Future -Amazon Case : FRL Appeals To Delhi High Court DB Against Single Bench Order Upholding Emergency Award

The appeal is scheduled to be heard on Mar 22 by a Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh.

A single judge bench of Justice Midha of the Delhi High Court had earlier allowed the application field by Amazon to enforce the emergency award against the Future-Reliance deal.

The High Court had held that the emergency arbitrator is an arbitrator for all the intents and purposes under Section 17(1) of Arbitration and Conciliation Act and an order passed by such an emergency arbitrator is enforceable under sec. 17 (2) of the Act.

The Court also held that the Respondent Future Group has raised a vague plea of nullity without substantiating the same. Moreover, the court went ahead to held that the petitioner's (Amazon.com) investment does not violate any law. In view of this, the Court rejected the contentions of the Future Retail Group with a cost of Rs. 20 lakhs to be deposited in PM fund of Covid 19 to be used in vaccination of senior citizens belonging to the below poverty line group. The Court ordered the same to be deposited within 2 weeks and the same shall be put on record within 1 week thereafter.

"The respondents have raised a vague plea of Nullity without substantiating the same. The interim order of the Emergency Arbitrator is not a Nullity as alleged by respondent No.2. Combining/treating all the agreements as a single integrated transaction does not amount to control of the petitioner over FRL and therefore, the petitioner‟s investment does not violate any law," the Court held.