The Delhi High Court on Friday rejected an appeal by Future Retail that sought a stay an interim order rejecting the Future Group’s appeal to vacate a stay on the company’s merger and acquisition deal with Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL), the retail arm of Reliance Industries.

Justice Suresh Kumar Kait also asked for the response of e-commerce giant Amazon, which had challenged the deal for violating the non-compete clause in its contract with Future Coupons. Amazon acquired a 49% stake in Future Group’s promoter firm, Future Coupons, in a 2019 deal that prohibited selling the Indian firm’s assets to anyone on a “restricted persons” list, including Reliance Industries. Future Coupons owns nearly 10% stake in Future Retail.

The emergency arbitrator initially blocked the deal between Future Group and Reliance in October last year. This decision was upheld in February this year by Judge Midha of the Delhi High Court as enforceable in India, but the Division Bench of the Delhi High Court overturned Judge Midha’s holding within days. In August, the Supreme Court upheld the validity of the arbitrator’s award after which Amazon approached the Delhi High Court for implementing the award.

However, upon the Future Group’s appeal, the Supreme Court ordered a stay on the proceedings between Amazon and Future Group at the Delhi High Court in lieu of an appeal against the emergency arbitrator’s award pending before the tribunal. The court also asked all regulatory authorities to not pass final orders in relation to the deal for four weeks. 

Last week, the tribunal rejected the appeal by Future Group to vacate the emergency arbitrator’s award. It also held that Future Retail is a party to the dispute between Future Group and Amazon, and cannot be excluded from the arbitration proceedings. Future Group then moved the Delhi High Court seeking a stay on the tribunal’s order.

It is this plea that the Delhi High Court rejected on Friday, stating that in view of the stay order by the Supreme Court in September, it needs clearance from the top court to pass any interim order. The court issued a notice to Amazon and listed the matter for further hearing on 4 January 2022.