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NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked Kalanithi Maran-led Kal Airways, former promoter of no-frills carrier SpiceJet Ltd., to consider ending a dispute with the airline by way of settlement.
A three-judge bench comprising justices AS Bopanna, Hima Kohli, and Chief Justice of India NV Ramana sought Maran's response to a settlement offer by SpiceJet's settlement by 14 February.
While senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared on behalf of SpiceJet, senior advocate Maninder Singh represented Kal Airways at the apex court.
In a separate statement, SpiceJet said it has made an offer to Maran and Kal Airways, seeking a full settlement of a share transfer dispute that arose after co-founder Ajay Singh took over the airline in 2015.
"The (settlement) offer was made during the hearing in the Supreme Court today (Thursday). Out of the principal amount of ₹578 crore awarded in arbitration, SpiceJet has already paid ₹308 crores in cash and deposited a bank guarantee of ₹270 crore," SpiceJet said in a statement.
"Mukul Rohatgi, Senior Counsel appearing for SpiceJet proposed to pay the bank guarantee equivalent amount of ₹270 crore in cash and top it up with additional ₹22 crore, aggregating the total payout to ₹600 crore as full and final settlement of all disputes between the Parties," it added.
In February 2015, Maran had transferred his shareholding in SpiceJet to Ajay Singh, currently chairman and managing director of the airline.
This was after the airline nearly went belly-up during 2014-15 due to severe cash crunch. Singh, who paid ₹2 to take over the airline, also took over SpiceJet's liabilities worth ₹1,500 crore.
As part of the agreement, Maran and KAL Airways had paid ₹679 crore to SpiceJet, under Ajay Singh, for issuance of warrants and preference shares.
However, Maran approached the Delhi high court in 2017 saying that neither the convertible warrants and preference shares have been issued nor was the money returned by the airline, and Singh.
Maran and his firm Kal Airways later moved the Supreme Court urging the apex court to lift the stay on a Delhi HC order asking SpiceJet to deposit ₹243 crore as interest on the amount of ₹579 crore to be payable to Maran in the dispute.
The Supreme Court had stayed the Delhi High Court order in November 2020.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, appearing for Maran and Kal Airways, senior advocate Maninder Singh informed the Supreme Court that the airline had deposited only ₹270 crore as bank guarantee against the Delhi high court order.
With a winding up order passed against SpiceJet by the Madras High Court in another case involving Credit Suisse AG, Singh argued that the airline should be directed to pay another ₹242 crore.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for SpiceJet, said the airline has already paid about ₹308 crore to Maran and Kal Airways, and ₹275 crore bank guarantee has been deposited before the Delhi high court.
After hearing both counsels, the Supreme Court asked Maran to consider settlement.
Recently, the Supreme Court stayed a Madras high court order which directed the winding-up of SpiceJet Ltd, before granting the airline three weeks to resolve its dispute with Credit Suisse AG.
The Madras high court had directed the winding-up following a petition from the Swiss financial services company to recover dues of ₹180 crore. The Supreme Court is set to hear the matter on 28 February.
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