The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked e-commerce company Amazon and Future Group to move National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) for expeditious disposal of Amazon’s appeal challenging the Competition Commission of India (CCI) order, passed in December last year, which suspended its deal with the Future Group.

Amazon had objected to Future’s deal with Reliance.

A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said the plea filed by Amazon is in a way connected to the outcome of the order which would be passed by the NCLAT.

Deferring the hearing of the to March 9, the bench, also comprising Justices A.S. Bopanna and Hima Kohli, said: “Thus, we ask the parties to approach NCLAT for expeditious disposal of the case”.

The bench deferred the hearing after being told that NCLAT is hearing another appeal of Amazon connected with the merger deal.

The top court is hearing a plea by Amazon, challenging the Delhi High Court order, which stayed proceedings before a Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) over Future Retail’s Rs 24,500-crore merger deal with Reliance Retail.

Senior Advocate Gopal Subramanium, representing Amazon, when asked about the status of the case, said that the appeal was pending before the NCLAT, and an application to terminate the proceedings before the arbitral tribunal was also filed.

The bench pointed out that if it hears the matter, then proceedings before the high court will become infructuous. “Why can’t we have the High Court wrap it up?” it queried,

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Future Retail, pointed out that the Section 32 application filed for termination of arbitration can be heard only when challenge to the CCI order is decided.

In December last year, the CCI had imposed a penalty of Rs 202 crore on Amazon and suspended its approval for the e-tailer’s deal with Future Coupons, a promoter firm of the group’s public listed company Future Retail Ltd, seeking more information. The Singapore tribunal had held that it could not accommodate its termination application ahead of the scheduled hearings on the main case. This order is under challenge before the NCLAT.

The apex court had told Amazon that in order to take a decision on the Singapore arbitration proceedings, clarity is first needed from NCLAT.

The Supreme Court has been hearing a batch of pleas filed by Amazon that pertain to enforcement of the order passed by an emergency arbitrator in Singapore, which stopped Future group from proceeding with its Rs 24,713 crore asset sale deal with Reliance.