The Supreme Court docket on Wednesday dismissed a plea filed by Kalanithi Maran and KAL Airways difficult a Delhi Excessive Court docket order that had rejected their declare in search of ₹1,323 crore in damages from SpiceJet.
A bench of Justices P. S. Narasimha and Atul S. Chandurkar refused to intervene with the excessive court docket’s resolution.
Maran and KAL Airways had challenged the Delhi Excessive Court docket’s 23 Could order that had dismissed their appeals because of delays. The division bench of Justices C. Hari Shankar and Ajay Digpaul had refused to condone a 55-day delay in submitting and a 226-day delay in re-filing their appeals, calling their conduct a “calculated gamble” and accusing them of intentionally concealing info from the court docket and SpiceJet.
Condonation of delay refers to in search of the court docket’s permission to file a case or enchantment after the authorized deadline has lapsed. Beneath the Limitation Act, events sometimes have 90 days to file an enchantment from a single decide’s resolution to a division bench. In the event that they miss this deadline, they need to clarify the delay to hunt condonation, which the Delhi Excessive Court docket didn’t settle for on this case.
In 2015, Maran and KAL Airways transferred their total stake in SpiceJet to Ajay Singh for a nominal ₹2 amid a monetary disaster that had almost shut the airline. As a part of the deal, Singh, who grew to become SpiceJet’s chairman and managing director, took over liabilities price ₹1,500 crore.
Maran and KAL Airways had additionally paid ₹679 crore to SpiceJet for issuing convertible warrants and desire shares. Nevertheless, these have been by no means issued below Singh’s administration, prompting Maran to method the Delhi Excessive Court docket in 2017 in search of a refund.
Arbitration award and court docket challenges
In July 2018, an arbitration panel of three retired Supreme Court docket judges rejected Maran’s declare for ₹1,323 crore in damages however ordered a refund of ₹579 crore plus curiosity. Each side challenged elements of this award below the Arbitration Act within the Delhi Excessive Court docket.
In 2023, Justice Chandra Dhari Singh upheld the arbitral award, directing SpiceJet and Singh to refund ₹308 crore for warrants and ₹270 crore for desire shares, together with relevant curiosity.
SpiceJet challenged this ruling earlier than a division bench. In Could 2024, the division bench granted reduction to SpiceJet by remanding the case to the only decide for recent consideration, placing the ₹270 crore refund on maintain.
Maran and KAL Airways approached the Supreme Court docket in opposition to this remand resolution, however their plea was dismissed in July 2024. They then refiled their long-pending appeals in opposition to the only decide’s 2023 order, resulting in the excessive court docket division bench’s Could 2025 dismissal because of delays.
In a inventory trade submitting on 26 Could, SpiceJet welcomed the excessive court docket’s resolution.
“These claims have been completely examined and rejected by a panel of three retired Supreme Court docket judges. KAL Airways and Kalanithi Maran then appealed to the only decide bench of the Delhi Excessive Court docket in search of the identical quantity in damages, which was additionally rejected by the court docket,” the airline stated.