SpiceJet Debt Row: Hearing Postponed, SpiceJet Chief Ajay Singh Summoned Again for February

11 Jan 2024 , 10:45 AM

On January 10, the Delhi High Court postponed the hearing of media mogul Kalanithi Maran’s appeal against low-cost carrier SpiceJet for unpaid debt until early February.

SpiceJet requested a postponement of the hearing because Amit Sibal, the company’s attorney, was ill. However, the court declined to provide relief and requested that Ajay Singh, the managing director and chairman of SpiceJet, attend the upcoming hearing.

On November 20, the court called Singh for a second time in three months after Maran informed the court that the airline owed him Rs 440 crore in interest as a result of unpaid debt from an arbitral award.

Maran stated that SpiceJet had not made any more payments since September 2023, when it paid Rs 100 crore.

SpiceJet and Singh complied with the court’s order in September to pay Maran Rs 100 crore towards the debt they owed the head of the Sun Group.

The court had threatened to attach SpiceJet’s profits from the previous quarter if the company didn’t pay.

After Maran filed an application stating that SpiceJet had not submitted an affidavit outlining assets and liabilities despite being requested to do so in 2020, Singh was summoned to attend in person.

As of August 3, 2023, Maran asserted that SpiceJet owed him Rs 393 crore. He requested that half of SpiceJet’s daily earnings be attached.

On July 31, a solitary judge of the high court affirmed the legitimacy of the arbitral award that was under dispute. Before a division bench of the court, SpiceJet and Singh contested the order.

On July 7, the Supreme Court declared the award to be executable, citing SpiceJet’s noncompliance with the deadline for paying Maran.

In its decision to end the case, the Supreme Court ordered SpiceJet to cash its Rs 270 crore bank guarantee and demanded that it pay Rs 75 crore in interest within three months.

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