The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed two petitions filed by Future Group companies seeking a directive to an arbitration tribunal to decide on their termination applications related to its deal with Amazon, Bar and Bench reported.
The petitions had been filed by Future Retail Limited and Future Coupons Limited. “Both the petitions are dismissed,” Justice Amit Bansal said on Tuesday, according to PTI. The court had reserved its verdict in the matter on Monday.
The Singapore-based tribunal has been hearing Amazon’s petition against the Future Group in connection with the deal between the two companies signed in 2019. In an interim order in October 2020, the tribunal had stayed the sale of Future Retail’s assets to Reliance Industries.
Future Retail, in its application before the tribunal, contended that the proceedings there could not continue on account of an order by the Competition Commission of India, which suspended the deal between the conglomerate and Amazon. The tribunal, however, declined to consider the application before starting final hearing in the matter.
The Future Group companies approached the Delhi High Court to challenge this decision.
The Competition Commission, in its order, had taken note of allegations that Amazon had concealed information about while seeking approval for it from the country’s statutory antitrust watchdog. The regulator has also imposed a penalty of Rs 200 crore on Amazon for allegedly concealing the actual scope of the deal, and making “false and incorrect statements” while applying for approvals.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Future Coupons, argued before the High Court that the tribunal was acting perversely by not deciding the termination application in connection with the arbitration proceedings on priority, according to PTI.
On similar lines, Harish Salve, appearing for Future Retail, contended that the tribunal should first consider the termination application and defer the other proceedings.
The tribunal is slated to matters related to damages from January 5 to 7.
Amazon argued before the High Court that the tribunal did not deny equal treatment to the Future Group, and that it has listed the termination application for hearing on January 8.
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