Supreme Court bans Future-Reliance deal, next hearing in the case after five weeks
Harleen Kaur Grewal
New Delhi, February 22, 2021: The Supreme Court on Monday barred the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) from approving a deal of Rs 24,713 crore between Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail Ltd (FRL) and Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani’s Reliance Retail. Accepting an appeal by e-commerce giant Amazon, the apex court issued an interim order, which made it clear that NCLT would not approve the plan to pave the way for transactions between FRL and Reliance. A bench of Justice F Nariman and Justice BR Gavai also issued notices to Future Group companies and Biyani. The next hearing of the case will take place after five weeks. The bench made it clear that the Delhi High Court bench would not pursue the case as the Supreme Court had accepted the case for investigation.
The Supreme Court heard the petition by the e-commerce giant Amazon against the decision of the Delhi High Court. Amazon has appealed against an order of the Delhi High Court to stay the deal between Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail Limited (FRL) and Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani for Rs 24,713 crore. Justice F Nariman and Justice BR Gavai heard the petition filed by Amazon to restore the status quo on the FRL-Reliance deal.
In the petition of Amazon, “No provision of appeal is against the order passed under Section 17 (2) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. Respondents (FRLs) have not challenged the EA order themselves, but prefer to challenge the order of the single judge enforcing the EA order.” Amazon also stated that the status quo order of the single judge was passed for the limited purpose of preserving the rights of the parties till the final orders and the Division Bench should not have issued its order in haste.
The Delhi High Court had stayed the order of a single judge in connection with the business acquisition deal worth Rs 24,713 crore between Future Retail Limited (FRL) and Reliance Retail. The bench said that statutory bodies such as the National Company Law Tribunal, Competition Commission of India (CCI), and market regulator SEBI cannot be barred from proceeding as per law in relation to the deal.
