Future Retail Case: NCLT, To Continue Hearing Amazon's Plea On June 14

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has adjourned till June 14 hearing of Amazon's petition opposing initiation of insolvency proceedings against debt-ridden Future Retail Ltd. After hearing the arguments of Rajiv Nayar, counsel of the e-commerce giant, the NCLT Mumbai bench said it will continue the hearing of the matter on June 14.

A plea seeking initiation of insolvency resolution proceedings against Future Retail Ltd (FRL) was filed by Bank of India (BoI), the lead banker in the consortium of lenders of the company. On June 6, the Mumbai bench of the tribunal held a virtual hearing in the matter. BoI's petition is yet to be admitted. On May 12, Amazon had filed an intervention application under Section 65 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) that deals with provisions relating to penalty for fraudulent or malicious initiation of proceedings.

Amazon had opposed the insolvency application alleging that BoI had colluded with FRL and any bankruptcy proceedings at this stage will compromise the e-commerce company's rights. It was the third time that the NCLT, on June 6, decided to have another hearing before deciding on admitting BoI's petition against FRL.

In April, BoI had moved the tribunal seeking to initiate insolvency proceedings against FRL, which has defaulted on loan repayments of Rs 5,322.32 crore to its lenders amid the ongoing litigations with Amazon and other related issues. Future Group's proposed deal with Reliance, which was opposed by Amazon, also fell through. In March, the lender through a public notice claimed its charge over the assets of FRL and warned the public against dealing with assets of the Kishore Biyani-led Future Group firm.

(PTI)