Delhi HC rejects Future Group's plea seeking termination of arbitration before SIAC

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday turned down a plea by the Kishore Biyani-led Future Group seeking to terminate the arbitration proceedings initiated by e-commerce giant Amazon before the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC).

Justice C. Hari Shankar said the arbitration before SIAC will continue and did not express any opinion on the merits of the arguments in the matter.

The legal battle between Amazon and Future Group was going on for over two years in various courts in India and in Singapore following a Rs 24,713-crore deal to sell the latter's retail, wholesale, logistics, and warehousing assets to Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd.

The Future Retail-Reliance Retail deal has been called off by Reliance Industries.

On November 17, the Supreme Court also expressed its discontent with the Future Group for attempting to defeat its order and intending to stall the proceedings before the Singapore tribunal in connection with the dispute.

Expressing concern, a bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud told senior advocate K.V. Viswanathan, representing the Future Group, that the intention of his client is to defeat the arbitration, and that it is stultifying the order of this court.

"All ploys by well-heeled parties to delay the arbitration proceeding. Your client is trying to be too clever by half," the bench had said.