India is witnessing a protracted corporate battle — fought before multiple courts and an India-seated SIAC arbitral tribunal — for control over one of its largest retail chains. This heavily publicised dispute between Amazon and the Future group took an unexpected turn in January this year when a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court ordered an interim stay of the SIAC arbitration proceedings between them. Amazon had appealed the Division Bench’s order (order here) before the Supreme Court of India. As reported in the news, the Supreme Court of India has yesterday permitted the resumption of the SIAC arbitration proceedings by consent of the parties. However, the Division Bench’s order draws attention to an issue that deserves a relook by Indian courts – the exercise of the High Courts’ supervisory jurisdiction under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, 1950 (“Constitution”) over orders of arbitral tribunals.
Amazon – Future orders
In December 2021, the Future group approached a single judge of the Delhi High Court (“Single Judge”) under Article 227 challenging a procedural order by the SIAC arbitral tribunal. By this procedural order, the arbitral tribunal had declined the Future group’s request for an early hearing of an application for termination of the SIAC arbitration. Instead, the arbitral tribunal had decided to continue with the pre-scheduled hearings pertaining to expert testimony, and the hearing of the termination application was scheduled after that.
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Anjali specialises in commercial arbitrations, litigation and complex corporate insolvencies. She handles a wide variety of matters before the Supreme Court of India, various High Courts, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal and arbitral tribunals.