Delhi HC refuses to intervene, Future vs Amazon to be decided by arbitration tribunal

A single bench judge, Judge Amit Bansal, said in his 21-page order that “there is no indication that the arbitral tribunal denied the parties equal opportunities or that the tribunal did not accept the arguments of the parties. companies of the Future group ”.

This means that the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC) will be the adjudicating authority. SIAC is expected to begin the hearing in the case on Wednesday. Until January 7, he will hear expert witnesses on Amazon’s arbitration plea seeking damages and a pause on the deal with the Reliance group led by Mukesh Ambani. Amazon had alleged breaches of contract by the Future Group because its agreement with Future Coupons Pvt Ltd in 2019 prevented the Future Group from entering into a deal with Reliance Group.

On January 8, SIAC will hear pleadings from Future Group in which the company headed by Kishore Biyani seeks to overturn the arbitration proceedings, as the Indian Competition Commission (ICC) has suspended the 2019 between American mass retailers and Future Coupons.

The order follows a request for termination filed by Future Group in the Delhi court requesting the annulment of the arbitration proceedings initiated by Amazon in the SIAC. In the plea, Future Group further stated that SIAC, instead of hearing expert witnesses, should have heard the group’s arguments on the annulment first.

Delhi’s high court heard the case and reserved its order on Monday. Prior to the verdict, Future Retail stock rose 3.6% to close at ??51.80 on NSE.

In the order, Judge Bansal further added the mere imposition of strict time limits or the refusal by the arbitral tribunal of requests for adjournment, or the order in which the arbitral tribunal assesses the parties’ requests, cannot be used to argue that the arbitral tribunal’s orders are “perverse” or “inherent lack of jurisdiction”.

On Monday, Rohatgi, a senior lawyer for Future Coupons, asked the High Court to force the court to overturn the proceedings, calling them “futile” and “moot.”

This litigation originated in an order of the Observatory of Competition issued on December 17 by which it suspended its approval on the 2019 Future Coupon agreement with Amazon. Pending the presentation of new documents by February 17, the transaction is suspended, CCI also imposed a fine of ??202 crore on Amazon for “twisting and removing” key details when it sought approval in 2019.

The Future Group then seized the Singapore arbitral tribunal on December 23, asking it to close the arbitration proceedings between Amazon and itself.

SIAC had said it would hear Future Coupon’s termination request after hearing the whole case on January 8.

The court said it would take Future Coupon’s concerns into consideration when making its decision.

Sameer Jain, Managing Partner, PSL Advocates and Solicitors is of the opinion that although the ICC has withdrawn the approval, the order did not reach its finality and Amazon has recourse against it.

“The request was rightly rejected and reflects the current position of the law. It is agreed that the arbitration agreement is separable from the main agreement and can therefore be performed independently. If the substance of the agreement is in violation of the law, it’s up to the court to determine, ”Jain said.

Manmeet Singh, partner at Mohit Saraf and Partners, said the court refused to interfere in court decisions because expert witness hearing and termination dates were already set.

“The tribunal, after reviewing the case, concluded that the tribunal gave equal opportunity to both parties. SIAC is the competent judicial authority to decide whether the arbitration should be continued or terminated,” Singh said.

A favorable SIAC verdict is crucial for Future Group as its flagship company Future Retail Ltd has already defaulted ??3,495 crore in contributions payable as of December 31 and its debt securities have been downgraded to D. By extension, the agreement between Future and Reliance Group will be drawn in the arm for Future Retail lenders, notably Union Bank of India, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, State Bank of India, Indian Bank, Central Bank, Axis Bank and IDBI Bank. The future owes to these banks ??6,278 crores. These banks are in the process of seeking an exemption from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to qualify Future Retail as a non-performing account (NPA), Mint reported on January 4.