Kalanithi Maran and his company KAL Airways on Monday turned down the one-time settlement offer of Rs 600 crore made by low-cost carrier SpiceJet as part of ending all its pending disputes, including the share transfer issue, between the two parties.
Senior counsel Maninder Singh, appearing for Maran, told a bench led by Chief Justice NV Ramana that Maran and KAL Airways have refused SpiceJet’s offer, which proposed that it would pay Rs 300 crore towards a full and final settlement of the dispute or secondly, out of the bank guarantee of Rs 270 crore deposited with the Delhi High Court, will give Rs 100 crore for now to fast track the litigation.
Basically, out of the principal amount of Rs 579 crore, Ajay Singh and SpiceJet have paid Rs 308 crore in cash and balance Rs 270 crore has been secured through bank guarantee. The offer entailed converting the bank guarantee to cash and pay out an additional Rs 22 crore to Maran, if he gave up the “unjustified” 18% interest, SpiceJet’s counsel argued.
“Both offers are declined,” Singh said, adding that Ajay Singh and his airline owe total dues of Rs 920 crore to Maran and his firm.
The judges also asked Maran the basis on which this valuation of Rs 920 crore was arrived at and granted him time to respond on the issue. The CJI then posted the matter for further hearing on March 2.
The apex court had on Thursday asked Maran to consider the one-time settlement offer made by SpiceJet during the hearing before the court.
The case relates to a dispute arising out of non-issuance of warrants in favour of Maran, after transfer of ownership to Singh, the controlling shareholder of SpiceJet. The dispute started after Singh took back control of the airline in February 2015 amidst a financial crisis. Maran and KAL Airways had transferred their entire 350.4 million equity shares in SpiceJet, amounting to a 58.46% stake in the airline, to its co-founder Ajay Singh in February 2015 for just Rs 2. The airline’s total debt at the time of acquisition was over Rs 1,400 crore. The carrier was forced to shut operations for a day in December 2014 due to a severe cash crunch.
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