Supreme Court permits FRL to approach Delhi HC with plea related to merger with Reliance Retail

The Supreme Court on February 15 granted liberty to Future Retail Ltd. (FRL) to move the Delhi High Court for seeking nod to proceed with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) permission of going ahead with the ₹24,731 crore merger deal with Reliance Retail.

“We grant liberty to FRL to approach the Delhi High Court for seeking continuation of proceedings before the NCLT…We request the single judge [of the high court] to pass orders,” a Bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana said.

The Bench, also comprising Justices A.S. Bopanna and Hima Kohli, said that the high court should consider the plea of FRL on the issue without being influenced by the observations made in its order.

The apex court on February 3 had reserved its order on the plea of FRL seeking continuation of the merger deal process before the NCLT.

Prior to this, the apex court, in a verdict on February 1, had set aside three Delhi High Court orders including attachment of properties of FRL and its directors and the refusal to grant a stay on the final arbitral award which had restrained FRL from going ahead with its ₹24,731 crore merger deal with Reliance Retail and had ordered fresh adjudication.

Amazon and the Future group have been engaged in a legal battle for over a year as the U.S. major is opposing the merger of FRL with Reliance Retail.