New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Thursday upheld the Singapore Emergency Arbitrator’s (EA) order restraining Future Retail Ltd (FRL) from going ahead with its Rs 24,713 crore deal with Reliance Retail to sell its business, which was objected to by US-based e-commerce giant Amazon.
Justice J R Midha directed Kishore Biyani-led FRL not to take further action in relation to the deal with Reliance and held that the Future Group willfully violated the EA’s order.
The high court imposed a cost of Rs 20 lakh on the Future Group and others associated with it and directed them to deposit the amount in Prime Minister’s Relief Fund within two weeks for providing COVID-19 vaccines to senior citizens of Below Poverty Line (BPL) category.
The high court’s order came on Amazon’s plea seeking direction to order enforcement of the award by Singapore’s EA on October 25, 2020, restraining FRL from going ahead with its Rs 24,713 crore deal with Reliance Retail.
Future Group and Amazon have been locked in a battle after the e-commerce giant took FRL into the emergency arbitration over alleged breach of an earlier contract between them.
The court, which directed the presence of Biyani and others before it on April 28, also ordered attachment of their properties and asked them to file an affidavit detailing their assets within one month.
Besides, it asked them to show cause as to why they be not detained under civil prison for 3 months for violating the emergency arbitrator’s order.
