Supreme Court dismisses SpiceJet's appeal; orders to pay Rs 579 crore to KAL airways

Supreme Court on Friday dismissed SpiceJet's appeal and ordered to pay Rs 579 crore to Kalanithi Maran over a share transport dispute.

Maran and his airline have alleged in their plea that despite giving around Rs 579 crore to SpiceJet, the carrier failed to issue them the warrants or allot them tranche 1 and 2 of Convertible Redeemable Preference Shares and the amount was not utilised for paying statutory dues due to which they were also facing prosecution.

Kalanithi Maran along with his Kal Airways were to recieve redeemable warrants for spending money on operational cost & debt payment.

According to a Mint report, which quoted Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who was arguing for Kalanithi Maran and KAL Airlines, saying, "It was virtually a consent order passed by the Delhi high court. I am without a penny from the last two years. They have shown the amount as payable under their balance sheet."

However, the bench directed the airline company to deposit Rs 250 crore in a cash on or or before August 31 and the remaining amount Rs 329 crore by way of bank guarantee with the court towards the disputed amount.

Last year, Delhi High Court had asked Maran and his Kal Airways to appoint an arbitral tribunal to decide the share transfer dispute between them in a year, a PTI report had said. 

On July 29, 2016, Justice Manmohan Singh had directed SpiceJet to deposit the amount of Rs 579 crore in a fixed deposit in the name of Registrar of the Delhi High Court for 12 months, the report had said.

Under the sale purchase agreement (SPA), Maran and Kal Airways had transferred their entire 350,428,758 equity shares (58.46 per cent stake) in the airline to Ajay Singh.

According to the SPA, Maran and Kal were to receive the redeemable warrants in return for around Rs 679 crore that they were to give to the airline towards operating costs and debt payment, the petition has claimed.

At 1519 hours the shares of SpiceJet were trading at Rs 115.80 per piece, up 0.65% or Rs 0.75 on BSE. 

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