SC dismisses Kalanithi Maran's Rs 1,300-crore damages plea against SpiceJet

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (July 23) 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 P S Narasimha and A S Chandurkar upheld the Delhi High Court's order of May 23 dismissing their plea on grounds of delay.

Also Read: SpiceJet vs KAL Airways: Kalanithi Maran to seek Rs 1,323 cr in damages, challenge HC order

Delayed appeals

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.

Also Read: HC sets aside order upholding arbitral award in favour of Kalanithi Maran

Fresh review ordered

On May 17 last year, a division bench of the high court set aside the single judge's order.

The order had upheld 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 the arbitral award afresh.

Also Read: SpiceJet seeks a ₹450 crore refund from Kalanithi Maran and KAL Airways

Case history

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.