High Court rejects Maran’s plea seeking Rs 1,300 crore damages from SpiceJet

New Delhi, May 26 A Division Bench of the Delhi High Court has dismissed the appeal filed by KAL Airways and businessman Kalanithi Maran seeking damages of more than Rs 1,300 crore and other claims from SpiceJet, the Ajay Singh-led low cost airline has stated in a regulatory filing.

“These assertions were already previously rejected by the Arbitral Tribunal and then the Delhi High Court. KAL Airways and Kalanithi Maran initially sought damages of more than Rs 1,300 crore during the arbitration proceedings. These claims were thoroughly examined and subsequently rejected by a panel of three retired Supreme Court judges,” according to the SpiceJet statement.

Following this, KAL Airways and Kalanithi Maran appealed to the Single-Judge Bench of the Delhi High Court, seeking the same amount in damages, which was also rejected by the court.

The price of SpiceJet shares shot up 2.6 per cent and were trading at Rs 44.97 apiece on the BSE in morning trade.

Ajay Singh, had earlier sold SpiceJet to Maran and then repurchased the airline in January 2015, after a prolonged grounding of the low cost-carrier as it ran into financial problems. The tribunal ruled that Maran owed Singh and the airline Rs 29 crore in penal interest, while Singh was instructed to reimburse Maran Rs 579 crore along with interest.

The tribunal also ruled that there was no violation of the share sale and purchase agreement made between Maran and the current promoter Singh in late January 2015.

The tribunal rejected Maran's appeal for damages of Rs 1,323 crore from SpiceJet.

In February 2015, Maran of promoter of Sun Network and Kal Airways, his investment vehicle, had transferred their 58.46 per cent stake in SpiceJet to Singh for a mere Rs 2 along with Rs 1,500 crore debt liability. SpiceJet was sold back to Singh as it ran into financial problems under Maran’s management and had to be grounded.

Maran and Kal Airways had claimed to have paid Spicejet Rs 679 crore for issuing warrants and preference shares as part of the agreement.

Maran then approached the Delhi High Court in 2017, alleging SpiceJet had neither issued convertible warrants and preference shares nor returned the money.

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