Amazon-Future case: SC halts HC hearings
The Supreme Court on Monday stayed all proceedings before the Delhi high court relating to a challenge by the Amazon.com Inc. against Future Group’s $3.4 billion sale of retail assets to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL).
The bench, headed by justice Rohinton F Nariman, observed that the top court will decide all contentions involved in the petitions moved by Amazon, the Seattle-based e-commerce firm owned by Jeff Bezos, and Kishore Biyanni’s Future Group, instead of letting the high court proceed on different petitions.
The legal wrangle has witnessed a tussle for dominion in India’s growing e-commerce market. On Monday, when two petitions filed by Amazon against two different orders of the Delhi high court came up for hearing, the bench asked the lawyers for both sides whether they wanted all the issues to be finally settled by the apex court.
The bench, which also included justices BR Gavai and Hrishikesh Roy, asked Future Group’s lawyer Harish Salve: “What we understand is that there will be two points to argue in this case. Maintainability of the appeal filed by you before the division bench of the high court, and the reasonings of the single judge (restraining Future Group to sell its assets to RIL). Ultimately, it will all end up here. Do you want us to hear everything together and decide it here?”
Salve replied in the affirmative, and so did senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam, who represented Amazon, and said he would also like the apex court to decide all matters finally.
Upon an agreement by both sides, the bench recorded in its order: “Having heard learned senior counsel appearing for all parties, further proceedings before the single Judge as well as the division bench of the High Court shall remain stayed.”
The bench gave Future Group two weeks to file their to Amazon’s petitions, including the one filed on April 8 against the Delhi high court’s division bench order of lifting the restraint against ₹24,713 crore asset sale by Future Retail Ltd (FRL) to RIL.
The top court will now take up all the petitions together for a final hearing on May 4.
On February 22, the Supreme Court restrained the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) from approving the deal between the FRL and RIL, while admitting the first petition by Amazon against a previous interim order of the high court’s division bench.
At that time, too, the division bench of the Delhi high court revoked the single judge’s decision of blocking the deal, leading Amazon to move in appeal. The top court then directed that “the NCLT proceedings will be allowed to go on but will not culminate in any final order of sanction of scheme”.
Subsequently, Amazon mentioned this case for a hearing and April 27, was fixed as the next date. However, after today’s order, this petition will also be considered on May 4 along with the second plea by Amazon.
Amazon and FRL refrained from commenting on the court order.