SC junks KAL Airways, Kalanithi Maran plea against SpiceJet
The SC dismissed Kalanithi Maran and KAL Airways' damages plea against SpiceJet, citing delay and upholding the Delhi High Court’s view that the former promoters took a “calculated gamble.”
PTI

NEW DELHI, 23 JULY
The Supreme Court on Wednesday 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 the grounds of delay.
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.
On 17 May, last year, a division bench of the high court set aside the single judge's order upholding 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 31 July 2023 single judge order and remanded the matter to the court concerned to consider the matter of the arbitral award afresh.
The case dates back to early 2015, when Singh, who had owned the airline earlier, bought it back from Maran after it was grounded for months due to a 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.
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