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A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and consisting of Justices AS Bopanna and Hima Kohli today set aside the order of the Delhi High Court upholding the emergency arbitral award which injected Future Group from proceeding with merger with Reliance Retail. The court remanded the matter back to Delhi High Court for fresh consideration.

Harish Salve, Senior Advocate, requested the court to direct Delhi High Court to designate a bench to hear this matter specifically and dispose it. The CJI mentioned that he will consider doing so.

The Delhi High Court had in February, 2021 upheld the award of an emergency arbitrator, directing the attachment of the properties of Future Retail Limited . The emergency arbitrator also injected the Future Retail from proceeding with the merger with Reliance Retail.

The Future Group had filed a series of litigation against a Delhi High Court order declining stay on an arbitration tribunal decision refusing to interfere with the Emergency Award (EA) of the SIAC.

Mukul Rohatgi and Harish Salve, senior advocates, had argued that the Future Group will collapse if the order of Delhi High Court is not set aside.

Amazon which is a stake holder in Future Coupons, opposed the merger on the ground that the merger is in violation of Future's contract with them.

Case title: Future Coupons Vs Amazon