High Court of Delhi holds that emergency arbitration orders are enforceable under Section 17(2) of the Arbitration Act in India-seated arbitrations

Brief Facts

On 25 January 2021, Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC (“Amazon”) filed a petition before the High Court of Delhi (“Court”) seeking enforcement of the order dated 25 October 2020 (“Order”) passed by the emergency arbitrator (“EA”). The Order was passed in Indian seated arbitration proceedings, which Amazon had commenced against Future Coupons Private Limited (“FCPL”), Future Retail Limited (“FRL”) and their promoters (i.e., the Biyanis) under the rules of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, 2016 (“SIAC Rules”). The petition was filed under Section 17(2) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Act”) read with Order XXXIX, Rule 2A and Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure,1908 (“CPC”).

Issues

Issue (i): What is the legal status of an emergency arbitrator and is an order passed by an emergency arbitrator an interim order under Section 17(1) and enforceable under Section 17(2) of the Act?

Issue (ii): Does the ‘group of companies’ doctrine apply only to proceedings under Section 8 of the Act?

Issue (iii): Is the Order a nullity?

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