A single judge bench of Delhi High Court Judge JR Midha has established a status quo on the Rs 27,513 crore settlement between Future Group and billionaire Mukesh Ambani, run by Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd.
“This court is convinced that immediate orders are needed to protect the rights of the petitioner (Amazon.com Inc.) until the issuance of the reserved order. In that view of the matter, the defendants (Future Group) are ordered to maintain the status quo today at 4:49 pm until the reserved order is issued, ”the Delhi High Court said.
Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC had gone to court after the Securities and Exchange Board of India granted conditional approval to Future Group’s asset sale and arrangement plan to the retail arm of Reliance Industries Ltd. on January 20.
In its January 25 petition, Amazon had argued that Future Group, led by Kishore Biyani, ignored the Emergency Arbitrator’s instructions and continually persecuted regulatory authorities asking them to approve the transaction. Future Group, it has said, has maliciously and deliberately disobeyed the arbitrator’s order.
The company sought recognition and enforcement of the emergency arbitrator’s order under section 17 (2) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996. The provision allows a party to request enforcement of a provisional order approved by a arbitral tribunal in the same way that you would for a court order.
The Future Group companies had countered the statement by arguing that an emergency arbitrator does not qualify as an arbitral tribunal for purposes of section 17 (2) and they qualified the order as null.
The higher court, however, prima facie, disagreed with the argument. Said:
- The emergency arbitrator is an arbitrator and the order of October 25, 2020 (the emergency arbitrator order) is not a nullity.
- The order dated October 25 is enforceable under section 17 (2) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act of 1996.
The court also ordered Future Group companies to submit an affidavit detailing the actions they took after October 25 and the current status of all those actions. The response must be submitted within 10 days.
The court also ordered all authorities “to maintain the status quo with respect to all matters that violate the orders dated October 25, 2020” within 10 days of receiving the order.
This is a developing story …
