Relief for SpiceJet as SC junks KAL Airways, Kalanithi Maran plea

Apex court bench upholds Delhi High Court's order of May 23 dismissing the plea on grounds of delay; the plea sought damages of over Rs 1,300 crore from SpiceJet in a share transfer dispute

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea of KAL Airways and Kalanithi Maran seeking damages of over Rs 1,300 crore from SpiceJet in a long-standing share transfer dispute.

A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and AS Chandurkar upheld the Delhi High Court‘s order of May 23 dismissing their plea on grounds of delay.

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KAL Airways and Kalanithi Maran had initially sought damages of over Rs 1,300 crore during the arbitration proceedings.

Maran and KAL Airways were former promoters of SpiceJet.

The High Court had said the former promoter engaged in a “calculated gamble” by delaying the filing and re-filing of their appeals.

On May 17, last year, a division bench of the High Court set aside the single judge’s order upholding an arbitral award directing SpiceJet and its promoter Ajay Singh to refund Rs 579 crore with interest to Maran.

The division bench allowed the appeals filed by Singh and SpiceJet against the July 31, 2023 single judge order and remanded the matter to the court concerned to consider the matter of arbitral award afresh.

The case dates back to early 2015, when Singh, who owned the airline earlier, bought it back from Maran after it was grounded for months due to resource crunch.

As part of the agreement, Maran and KAL Airways claimed to have paid SpiceJet Rs 679 crore for issuing warrants and preference shares.

However, Maran moved the Delhi High Court in 2017, alleging SpiceJet had not issued convertible warrants and preference shares nor returned the money.