Delhi HC declines Amazon's plea to keep in abeyance its decision to stay status quo order regarding Future-Reliance deal
Delhi high court declines Amazon's plea to keep in abeyance its status quo order on Future-Reliance deal.
The Delhi high court on Monday stayed its single-judge order to maintain status quo with regard to the ₹24,713 crore deal between Future Retail Ltd (FRL) and Reliance Retail.
The interim direction on FRL's appeal challenging the February 2 order was passed by a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh.
The bench said that statutory authorities like National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Competition Commission of India (CCI) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) cannot be restrained from going ahead with the deal in accordance with the law.
The court also declined Amazon's request to keep its order in abeyance for a week so that it can explore appropriate remedies.
FRL, in its appeal, had said that its creditors would be facing a ‘significant risk’ if the deal with Reliance fell through, people familiar with the development told Reuters.
The court has also asked Amazon and sought its stand on FRL's appeal by February 26 following which it will commence day-to-day hearing on the matter. The previous order on February 2 had come after Amazon had sought enforcement of the Emergency Arbitrator (EA) order stopping FRL from proceeding with the ₹24,713 crore deal with Reliance Retail. In October 2020, the EA by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) restrained Future Retail Ltd (FRL) from proceeding ahead with the deal.
