NEW DELHI New Delhi: In a major relief to the existing promoters of budget airline SpiceJet, the Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the plea of Kalanithi Maran and KAL Airways challenging the Delhi High Court order that dismissed their demand for Rs 1,323 crore in damages from SpiceJet. The apex court passed the order on a special leave petition in which the division bench had dismissed their plea on the ground of delay. Media baron and former SpiceJet owner Kalanithi Maran and KAL Airways had moved the Supreme Court earlier this month against the Delhi High Court’s May order that dismissed their pleas seeking Rs 1,323 crore in damages from SpiceJet.
This new verdict is likely to be the final hearing of the long-running legal battle between the current and former promoters of the budget airline. Earlier, an arbitral tribunal had also rejected KAL Airways’ Rs 1,323 crore damages claim against the airline. In May, the Delhi High Court had dismissed appeals by KAL Airways and businessman Maran seeking over Rs 1,300 crore in damages from SpiceJet. The Delhi High Court had accused Maran of playing a “calculated gamble” and “deliberately and deliberately concealing facts”. The dispute between the two parties began in February 2015, when Maran and KAL Airways transferred their 58.46% stake in SpiceJet to Ajay Singh for Rs 2 crore. Under the agreement, KAL and Maran were to receive redeemable warrants and preference shares in return for the Rs 679 crore spent on SpiceJet.
In 2017, Maran approached the Delhi High Court claiming that neither the convertible warrants and preference shares were issued nor the money was returned. An arbitration panel in 2018 rejected Maran and Kalanithi Maran’s claim for damages of Rs 1,323 crore for not issuing the warrants, but ordered them to refund Rs 579 crore with interest. Since then, the matter has come up several times in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court. In May 2024, SpiceJet said it strongly denies the claims of Kalanithi Maran and Kalanithi Maran seeking damages of Rs 1323 crore.
