Case Title: Amazon.Com NV Investment Holdings v. Future Retail Ltd and Others
The Supreme Court ruled in favour of e-commerce behemoth Amazon in its fight with Future Retail Limited (FRL) over the latter's merger agreement with Reliance Group. The Supreme Court ruled that the Emergency Award issued by a Singapore arbitrator, which halted the FRL-Reliance merger, is enforceable in Indian law.
The following were the key issues addressed by the parties before the Supreme Court:
1. Whether Emergency Arbitration Award is recognised under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act and whether it is enforceable under Indian law?
2. Whether Amazon's arbitration agreement with Future Coupons Private Ltd(FCPL) will bind Future Retail Limited and its promoters Biyanis. Can the 'group of companies' doctrine apply to bind FRL with the arbitration agreement?
3. Whether FRL's appeal before the High Court division bench is maintainable, as Section 37 of the Arbitration Act does not provide for an appeal against an order allowing enforcement of the emergency award, and whether such an appeal could be maintained under provisions of the Civil Procedure Code?
"It is entirely wrong to assert that Section 17(1) of the Act would exclude an Emergency Arbitrator's directives," the Court wrote in its decision.
"We declare that the Arbitration Act grants full party liberty to resolve a dispute in line with institutional standards, which can include Emergency Arbitrators delivering interim orders, referred to as "awards." Such orders are an important step toward decongesting the civil courts and providing parties with expedited temporary relief. Such orders are imposed per Section 17(1) of the Arbitration Act," the Court stated in its decision.
This means that the Supreme Court has authorised the implementation of the Singapore Emergency Arbitrator (EA) ruling, which was issued at Amazon's request, halting the Rs 24,731 crore merger of Future Retail and Reliance Industries Group (Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani Group).
Furthermore, the Supreme Court affirmed the ruling of the Delhi High Court's single bench, which had found in favour of the implementation of the Emergency Award. It held that the single judge's order was not appealable to the High Court's division bench under Section 37(2) of the Arbitration Act.
According to Justice Nariman's decision, the Arbitration Act has no stated or implicit prohibition on Emergency Arbitration.