Future plea against HC order: SC defers hearing to Jan 11
One-liner: Expressing displeasure over the timing and content of documents submitted before it by the parties in the Amazon-Future case, the Supreme Court on Wednesday deferred to Jan 11 the hearing on the Future group plea against a Delhi HC order.
Court's displeasure: A bench, which had earlier sought small written submissions from parties to the litigation in place of truckload of documents, again expressed displeasure over the written notes submitted by Future Group.
- Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the Future group, said that he himself would dictate a note today and submit it in the evening. It may be taken up tomorrow
- The bench then said that if there was no urgency then the matter will be listed for hearing on Jan 11. The parties agreed to it
Need to know: Amazon had dragged Future Group to arbitration at Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) in Oct last year, arguing that FRL had violated their contract by entering into the deal with rival Reliance.
- The HC sought a response from Amazon which had challenged the merger before the SIAC, and listed the appeals by FCPL and FRL for further hearing on Jan 4, 2022
- On March 18, besides restraining FRL from going ahead with its deal with Reliance Retail, the court had imposed costs of Rs 20 lakh on the Future Group and others associated with it and ordered attachment of their properties
Background: On August 6, the Supreme Court gave the verdict in favour of Amazon and held that EA award, restraining the Rs 24,731 crore FRL-Reliance Retail merger deal, is valid and enforceable under Indian arbitration laws.
- The apex court had also set aside the two orders of Feb 8 and March 22 of the division bench of the Delhi HC order which had lifted the single judge's orders staying the FRL-RRL merger
