INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Supreme Court would expedite hearing of Amazon's plea on Future Group arbitrationThe Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would list for hearing
"as early as possible" the interim plea of e-commerce major Amazon seeking preservation of Future Retail Limited's (FRL) assets besides
resumption of arbitration over the merger deal with Reliance Retail.A bench headed by chief justice N V Ramana, which had earlier fixed
Amazon's plea for hearing on March 23, told senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, appearing for the US firm, that one of the judges, Justice
Hima Kohli, was unavailable and hence the hearing cannot take place on the scheduled date.The Chief Justice N V Ramana-led bench, to which
Justice A S Bopanna and Justice Kohli are a part, has been hearing the matters relating to the Amazon-Future dispute."We have some
difficulties in constituting the bench
My sister (Justice Hima Kohli) has some problems
think by that time she (Justice Kohli) may come
would be set up to hear the case.Earlier, Amazon had apprehended the "disappearance" of assets and sought an interim order from the top
Retail.The bench had taken note of the allegations of the US firm that the "applecart was being upset" by its rivals and asked the Future
Future group are engaged in multi-forum litigation on the issue of FRL's merger deal to the tune of Rs 24,500 crore with Reliance Retail
has been alleged by Amazon that on March 3, as many as 600 stores of FRL were taken away by Reliance.The plea was vehemently objected to by
the Future group lawyers on Tuesday.The top court was told by Amazon that besides seeking resumption of arbitral proceedings, it wanted an
order so that the FRL's assets are there for it if it wins the arbitration as the "applecart was being upset".The bench is hearing Amazon's
appeal against the January 5 order of the Delhi High Court, which stayed the arbitration proceedings before the arbitral tribunal over
Future Retail's merger deal with Reliance Retail.
