The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed SpiceJet and its Managing Director Ajay Singh to approach the Delhi High Court again in their long-running arbitration dispute with Kalanithi Maran and KAL Airways. [SpiceJet v. Kal Airways]..The airline cited a recent government emergency credit line guarantee scheme for the aviation sector in view of the West Asia oil crisis.A Bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe said, “We permit the petitioners to approach the High Court on the basis of the subsequent developments, such as the governmental order dated 5/5/2026.”The Court further noted that the subsequent development concerned a policy decision relating to emergency credit line guarantees and said that the High Court may consider the request in view of the Section 34 petition being listed for final disposal on July 18..The matter is rooted in a dispute from 2015, involving the rescue of SpiceJet when it was facing severe financial distress and risked shutting down operations.Kalanithi Maran and Kal Airways were the promoters and majority shareholders of the airline, holding a 58.46 per cent stake. They entered into an agreement with SpiceJet in January 2015, under which they agreed to transfer their entire shareholding to Ajay Singh for a nominal consideration of ₹2.The transaction was coupled with a broader financial support arrangement involving the issuance of warrants, cumulative redeemable preference shares (CRPS) and an overall funding commitment of about ₹450 crore. Disputes later arose over the performance of reciprocal obligations under the agreement, leading to arbitration.In July 2018, a three-member arbitral tribunal directed SpiceJet and Ajay Singh to refund ₹308.21 crore to Maran and KAL Airways, along with interest at 12 per cent per annum from November 2015.Both sides filed challenges under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, while enforcement proceedings were initiated before the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court..The High Court eventually directed SpiceJet to deposit ₹579 crore as an interim measure. This was modified in appeal to permit a ₹329 crore bank guarantee and a ₹250 crore cash deposit. In 2019, the ₹250 crore was released to the decree holders and a further ₹58.21 crore was paid from the bank guarantee.In February 2023, the Supreme Court directed encashment of the bank guarantee and ordered SpiceJet to pay ₹75 crore towards interest within three months, warning that failure to comply would render the award executable in its entirety.In July 2023, the Court refused to grant further time and held that the award had become executable due to non-compliance.In January 2026, the Delhi High Court dealt with applications filed by SpiceJet and Ajay Singh seeking a stay on the award. The Court noted that the Supreme Court’s directions had not been complied with. It also recorded that the judgment debtors had themselves admitted in earlier proceedings that ₹194.51 crore remained payable towards interest, of which ₹50 crore had already been deposited.Accordingly, the Court directed the deposit of the remaining ₹144.51 crore within six weeks. .SpiceJet filed the review petition challenging this order. In February, the Supreme Court dismissed a similar plea by SpiceJet and Ajay Singh challenging this direction to deposit ₹144 crore.SpiceJet then filed an application by which it offered property belonging to Singh for attachment. This application also came to be dismissed..The airline then moved a review petition before Delhi High Court, which also came to be dismissed. The instant appeal is filed against this order..In the Supreme Court today, Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Amit Sibal appeared for the airline. They told the Court that the arbitral award was for ₹873 crore including interest, out of which it had already paid ₹729 crore in cash. They submitted that this amounted to nearly 83 per cent of the award amount and that only ₹144 crore remained to be paid.The airline further argued that the Central government had approved an emergency credit line guarantee package of ₹2.55 lakh crore, of which ₹5,000 crore was meant for airlines. It said that the funds were expected to be released by around July 10 and sought time till then to make the remaining payment.“I am not arguing on merits. I am not disputing liability,” counsel submitted.SpiceJet also said that it had offered an unencumbered one-acre property in Udyog Vihar, Gurugram, belonging to Singh, as security. The property was stated to be worth more than ₹100 crore. However, the Delhi High Court had earlier declined to accept the property in place of the cash deposit.The airline argued that insisting on immediate deposit could force it to shut down operations..The Senior Advocates were briefed by Advocates Sasiprabhu, Yasharth Misra, Darpan Sachdeva, Mohammed Ilyas, Parth Rashik and Vidhatri Devoli..Senior Advocate Jayant Mehta with Advocates Nandini Gore (Senior Partner), Sonia Nigam (Associate Partner), Swati Bhardwaj, Akarsh Sharma, Arjun Singh Gautam and Mansvini Jain from Karanjawala & Co appeared for Kal Airways and Kalanithi Maran.
