Delhi High Court sets aside order directing SpiceJet to pay ₹270 crore to Sun Group's Kalanithi Maran

A Division Bench of the Delhi High Court on Friday set aside an order of the single-judge directing Spicejet to refund over ₹270 crore to Sun Group promoter Kalanithi Maran..A Division Bench of Justices Yashwant Varma and Ravinder Dudeja allowed the appeal filed by SpiceJet and its Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Ajay Singh against the single-judge's order."Appeal stands allowed. Consequently July 31, 2023 order is set aside," the Court ordered. .Detailed judgement is awaited..The Division Bench had earlier rejected SpiceJet's plea seeking a stay on the single-judge order upholding an arbitral tribunal award directing the airline to refund over ₹270.The dispute between Maran and SpiceJet dates back to January 2015 when Ajay Singh, who used to own SpiceJet before Maran, bought it back from him.According to reports, Maran had transferred his 58.46% stake in the airline to Singh. As per the deal, Maran was supposed to get redeemable warrants in return for the money invested by him during his tenure as a promoter of the airline. Maran was liable to get 18 crore warrants, which translated to 26% shareholding in SpiceJet.It was Maran's case that neither the convertible warrants nor the preference shares were issued to him, and he did not get any money. Maran claimed that he suffered damages of nearly ₹1,323 crore. He approached the Delhi High Court, which referred the matter to arbitration..The arbitral tribunal gave its order in July 2018 and ordered SpiceJet to refund ₹270 crore to Maran. The tribunal also ordered the airline to pay interest of 12% per annum on the amounts paid towards warrants and to 18% per annum on the sums awarded to Maran if the money is not paid on time.However, the tribunal also held that there was no breach of the share sale and purchase agreement between Maran and SpiceJet and Ajay Singh. Therefore, it rejected Maran's demands for restitution of his shareholding and his claim for damages..Maran, his company KAL Airways as well SpiceJet and Ajay Singh then filed petitions before the High Court against the arbitral tribunal's order.On July 31, 2023, Justice Chandra Dhari Singh ordered Spicejet to refund the money to Maran and held that the low-cost carrier failed to prove that the tribunal's order suffered from any illegality."There is nothing in the impugned Award to suggest that it suffers from patent illegality and the findings therein are perverse and will shock the conscience of this Court. In the instant case, the petitioners have not been able to prove that the impugned Arbitral Award is patently illegal, against public policy of India or fundamental policy of law and thus have failed to make out a case for the award to be set aside," the Court said.Justice Singh also rejected Maran's plea against the same arbitral tribunal order denying his prayers for restitution of his 58.46% shareholding in SpiceJet and his claim for damages.SpiceJet then filed the present appeal before the Division Bench which allowed the same and set aside the single-judge order..Senior Advocate Amit Sibal and advocate KR Sasiprabhu appeared for SpiceJet.