The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will hear on February 8 Amazon’s appeal against a Delhi High Court order that stayed arbitration proceedings initiated by the e-commerce firm against Future Group before a Singapore tribunal.

A bench led by the chief justice posted the matter for hearing on February 8 after senior counsel Gopal Subramanium, appearing for Amazon, sought urgent hearing in the case. The tribunal had rescheduled its hearing in the arbitration case for May, after the HC, on January 5, had stayed its proceedings citing a Competition Commission of India (CCI) order that had suspended its clearance given to Amazon’s Rs 1,400-crore investment in Future Coupons in 2019. The arbitration proceedings were earlier scheduled to be held between January 5 and 8.

So far, Amazon had got reprieve from the tribunal, which had in an interim order restrained Future Retail from going ahead with its Rs 24,500-crore merger deal with Reliance Retail, as sought by Amazon.

While staying the arbitration proceedings, the division bench of the HC, led by Chief Justice DN Patel, had said that there is a “prima facie case” in favour of the Future Group companies in view of the CCI’s order and if the proceedings are not halted, this would cause an “irreparable loss” to the Biyani Group.

The spat between Future Group and Amazon has been on since October 25, 2020, when the Singapore EA passed an interim order restraining FRL from going ahead with its deal with Reliance Retail. The two sides have been embroiled in a legal battle over Future Retail’s move to sell its retail assets to Reliance Retail for Rs 24,500 crore. Amazon, which had acquired an indirect minority stake in Future Group in 2019 for Rs 1,400 crore, has alleged that Future’s sale of its retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing businesses to Reliance Retail breached its pre-existing contract, which included a right of the first offer and a non-compete clause.