Supreme Court directs SpiceJet to pay $1 million per month to Credit Suisse for 6 months to clear dues

The Supreme Court recently directed SpiceJet to pay $1 million per month to global investment bank, Credit Suisse for 6 months, towards clearing long-pending dues from the airline company. [Credit Suisse AG and anr vs Ajay Singh and anr].A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanullah also directed that SpiceJet Chairperson and Managing Director, Ajay Singh continue to remain personally present in court for the next hearing on October 20.."We accept the request ... that the arrears would be cleared in the next six months by paying installment of $ 500,000 US Dollars every month and in addition thereto regular installment of 500,000 US Dollars would also be paid. In effect, 1 million US Dollars to be paid every month for the next six months so that the seventh month it would be only the regular installment for that month," the Court's order stated. .The cash-strapped low-cost airline company had been paying $500,000 a month to the bank. The bank, however, wanted an increase in the monthly payments and sought the payment of $1.5 million a month.In August, the apex court issued a contempt notice to Singh on a plea filed by Credit Suisse accusing the carrier of backtracking from a court-mandated settlement plan toward the payment of dues. The Swiss bank had filed the contempt petition against SpiceJet in April.The dispute arose after the two parties, in May last year, entered into an agreement to resolve a payment dispute concerning the airline’s failure to pay dues to the tune of $20 million to a Swiss aircraft maintenance company, SR Technics..On a related note, in August, the Delhi High Court asked SpiceJet and its Chairperson, Ajay Singh to pay ₹100 crore to Kalanithi Maran and his KAL Airways, after July 2018 arbitral award that called for a refund of ₹270 crores by SpiceJet..Before the Supreme Court, Senior Advocate Siddhartha Dave appeared for Credit Suisse.Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal, Shyam Divan and Vivek Tankha appeared for SpiceJet and Ajay Singh..[Read order]