Maran vs SpiceJet: Delhi HC upholds 2018 arbitration award; Maran to get ₹579 crore plus interest

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₹579 crore plus interest to former promoter Kalanithi Maran. The decision paves the way for the enforcement of the award.

The execution proceedings against the award are pending before another bench of the Delhi High Court, and a hearing in the matter is scheduled for 5 September. In February 2015, Maran had transferred his entire shareholding in SpiceJet to Ajay Singh, the current chairman and managing director of the airline, after the carrier nearly went belly up in 2014-15 due to a severe cash crunch.

Singh, who paid ₹2 to take over the airline, also took over SpiceJet’s liabilities of ₹1,500 crore. As part of the agreement, Maran and Kal Airways also made payments of ₹679 crore to SpiceJet, under Singh, for issuing warrants and preference shares.

However, Maran approached the Delhi high court in 2017, alleging SpiceJet had not issued convertible warrants and preference shares or returned the money. In July 2018, an arbitration panel rejected Maran’s claim of damages of ₹1,323 crore for not issuing warrants to him and Kal Airways but awarded him a refund of ₹579 crore plus interest.

SpiceJet was permitted to furnish a bank guarantee for ₹329 crore and make a cash deposit of the remaining sum of ₹250 crore. On 7 November 2020, the top court stayed a Delhi high court order asking SpiceJet to deposit around ₹243 crore as interest in the share transfer dispute.