On Monday, the Delhi High Court stayed a single-judge order passed on 2 February—as per that order, Future Retail Limited’s (FRL's) deal with Reliance Industries had been temporarily halted. With the new order, the Future Group can now go ahead with that deal, stated an FE report.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh said FRL was not a party to the arbitration agreement with Amazon, stated the news report.
The court added that, prima facie, Amazon had no reason to seek a status quo order from the single judge when it was not interested in the deal.
The division bench also pointed out that when the deal is as per law, authorities like Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and Competition Commission of India (CCI) cannot be restrained from proceeding.
The Reliance-Future Group deal—worth Rs 24,713 crore—has received approval from statutory authorities like Sebi and CCI. It only requires the approval of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which is what the 2 February order had stalled.
The bench also said the “group of companies” doctrine cannot be invoked in the present case as the three agreements—Future Retail Shareholding Agreement, Future Coupons Pvt. Ltd. SHA, and FCPL Share Subscription Agreement—are distinct in nature.
