NCLAT moved by Amazon

NCLAT moved by Amazon

It challenged the Competition Commission of India order suspending the deal with Future Group

The American e-commerce giant, Amazon has approached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) challenging the order passed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) suspending its 2019 deal with the Future Group.

Amazon's acquisition of a 49 percent stake in Future Coupons Private Limited (FCPL) has been embroiled in many legal disputes.

An arbitration tribunal in Singapore has been hearing the case. It had passed an interim order stalling the sale of Future Retail's assets to Reliance Industries. Recently, the CCI had suspended the clearance of the deal stating that Amazon had failed to notify it about certain crucial details of its acquisition as required under the Competition Commission Act, 2002. It had also imposed a penalty of Rs.202 crores on Amazon.

The Future Group had then approached the Delhi High Court seeking a stay on the arbitration proceedings. The plea stated that since the CCI had suspended its approval, the agreement between the two companies did not stand. Therefore, the arbitration based on the agreement was also illegal.

Even as the single judge dismissed the plea, a division bench had stayed the proceedings before the Singapore tribunal. The bench cited the CCI order as one of the reasons for staying the proceeding. It had added that an irreparable loss would be caused to the Future Group if the proceedings were not stayed.

The division bench had also issued a notice to Amazon and listed the case for further hearing on February 1.