 "SpiceJet")
The Delhi High Court (HC) on Wednesday deferred to early February the hearing of pleas by media baron Kalanithi Maran against low-cost airline SpiceJet over payment of dues.
The hearing was put off at the request of SpiceJet, as its lawyer, Amit Sibal, was indisposed. The court, however, refused to grant relief and asked SpiceJet's chairman and managing director, Ajay Singh, to be present on the next hearing date.
On November 20, the court summoned Singh for the second time in three months after Maran informed the court that the airline owed him Rs 440 crore towards interest arising out of dues from an arbitral award.
Maran further told the high court that after paying Rs 100 crore in September 2023, SpiceJet had stopped making payments.
In September, SpiceJet and Singh complied with the court's direction to pay Maran Rs 100 crore towards the dues they owed the Sun Group chairperson. The court had warned that failure to pay could result in the court attaching SpiceJet's profits for the previous quarter.
Singh was asked to be present in person after Maran filed a suit alleging that SpiceJet failed to provide an affidavit stating assets and liabilities despite being urged to do so in 2020.
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Maran claimed that SpiceJet owed him Rs 393 crore as of August 3, 2023, and sought the attachment of 50 per cent of SpiceJet's daily revenue.
The validity of the arbitral award, which was being contested, was upheld by a single judge of the high court on July 31. SpiceJet and Singh challenged the order before a division bench of the court.
On July 7, the Supreme Court ruled that the award was executable as SpiceJet failed to meet the deadline for making payments to Maran.
Disposing of the case, the top court directed that SpiceJet's Rs 270 crore bank guarantee be encashed and asked the airline to pay Rs 75 crore towards interest within three months.
