Pay Rs 380 crore to Kalanithi Maran: Delhi High Court directs SpiceJet

Maninder Singh, a senior advocate from Karanjawala & Co, further argued that the amount of Rs. 75 crore had not been deposited yet, resulting in an increased interest liability of Rs 380 crore

Delhi High Court on May 29 ordered SpiceJet to pay Rs 380 crore to its former promoter, Kalanithi Maran of the Sun Group, and asked the airline to submit an affidavit of assets within four weeks.

Justice Yogesh Khanna of Delhi High Court recently issued the order on the execution petition filed by Maran's firm Kal Airways Pvt Ltd. The order rejected the claims of Spicejet and directed them to pay the entire arbitral award to Kal. The court also instructed Spicejet to file an Affidavit of Assets within a specified time frame.

Kal Airways had argued that Spicejet had failed to comply with the Delhi High Court order of November 4, 2020 by not filing the affidavit of assets. 

 

Additionally, Spicejet was directed to pay an amount of Rs. 242 crore within three weeks from September 2, 2020. Spicejet sought to modify this order, but their application was rejected. They then challenged these orders before the Supreme Court, which directed them on February 13, 2023, to encash the bank guarantee and pay the specified amount directly to Kal Airways. Spicejet was also required to pay an additional amount of Rs 75 crore to Kal Airways within three months, as the liability for interest.

Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for KAL, had told the HC that the amount of Rs 75 crores had not been deposited yet, resulting in an increased interest liability of Rs 380 crores. Therefore, KAL had insisted on compliance with the order passed by the Supreme Court, he said. 

Senior Counsel Sandeep Sethi, representing Spicejet, said that Spicejet had already paid a principal amount of Rs 579.08 crore and had applied to the Supreme Court for a three-month extension to make the payment of Rs 75 crores specifically for the interest. Sethi requested the Delhi High Court to not pass an order to direct Spicejet to deposit the remaining balance amount. 

Singh, meanwhile, argued that the timeline for the payment of the interest amount had already been determined by the Supreme Court, and so the Delhi HC has no authority to extend the time limit.

"The arguments of the decree-holder (KAL) appears plausible as admittedly there is no modification of order dated 13.02.2023 passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, hence it need to be followed," the Delhi High Court said. 

Observing this, the court told Spicejet to deposit the entire outstanding amount of Rs 380 crore. 

"The judgment debtor(Spicejet) had failed to pay an amount of Rs.75.00 crores to decree-holder, hence in terms of para 15(ii) of the order dated 13.02.2023 of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, there is no other alternative except to call upon the judgment debtors to deposit the entire outstanding amount qua interest forthwith, thus so directed. Affidavit of assets be also filed within four weeks from today(May 29, 2023)," the order read. 

Commenting on the case, a Spicejet spokesperson said, "SpiceJet is already in discussions with Mr. Kalanithi Maran and his firm KAL Airways for comprehensive settlement of the matter. We are confident of resolving the same mutually as we have already paid the entire principal amount of Rs 578 crore earlier awarded by the Arbitral Tribunal.