COURTESY HT FEB 3

The Delhi high court on Tuesday put the brakes on Future Retail’s $3.4 billion sale of its retail assets to Reliance, acting on a petition by Amazon.com, which has alleged that the deal was in violation of its own contract with Future. In an interim order, the court directed Future Retail to maintain status quo on the assets starting at 4.50pm on Tuesday, until “the pronouncement of the reserved order”. The court said it was of the prima facie view that a Singapore tribunal order, which asked the company not to proceed with the deal, was enforceable in India. On Oct 25, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre passed an interim order in favour of Amazon, barring Future Retail from taking any steps to dispose of or encumber its assets or issuing any securities to seek any funding against them.