Amazon challenges Delhi High Court’s order in Supreme Court

Amazon has challenged the Delhi High’s court stay on a single judge’s order restraining Future Retail from going ahead with its Rs 24,713 crore deal with Reliance Retail to sell its business.

On March 22, the Delhi HC stayed a single judge order restraining Future Retail (FRL) from going ahead with the deal, which was objected to by US-based e-commerce giant Amazon.

A division bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh also issued notice to Amazon on Future Group's appeal challenging the single judge's March 18 judgment on the deal by which all the objections raised by them were rejected.

It also stayed the single judge order to attach Future Group's Kishore Biyani assets and others directing them to appear in court on April 28.

The bench stayed the single judge's direction imposing a cost of Rs 20 lakh on the Future Group as well as its directors, asking them to deposit it in Prime Minister's Relief Fund within two weeks for being used for providing Covid-19 vaccination to senior citizens of Below Poverty Line (BPL) category of Delhi.

The single judge's order had come on Amazon's plea seeking direction to order enforcement of the award by Singapore's Emergency Arbitrator's (EA) on October 25, 2020, restraining Future Retail from going ahead with its Rs 24,713 crore deal with Reliance Retail.