After KAL Airways and Kalanithi Maran said on Monday that they will seek Rs 1,323 crore in damages from SpiceJet and its chief Ajay Singh and would also challenge a recent Delhi High Court order in the ongoing dispute, SpiceJet refuted the claims made against it.
Speicejet said in a stock exchanges filing: "These assertions are not only legally untenable but also a regurgitation of previously rejected claims by the Arbitral Tribunal and then the Delhi High Court."
The case dates back to early 2015, when Singh, who owned the airline earlier, bought it back from Maran after it was grounded for months due to resource crunch. As part of the agreement, Maran and KAL Airways had claimed to have paid SpiceJet Rs 679 crore for issuing warrants and preference shares.
Maran approached the Delhi High Court in 2017, claiming that SpiceJet had not issued convertible warrants and preference shares nor returned the money.
On May 17, a division bench of the court set aside a single judge bench order that had upheld an arbitral award asking SpiceJet and its promoter Ajay Singh to refund Rs 579 crore plus interest to Maran.
The bench allowed the appeals filed by Singh and SpiceJet challenging the single judge's order, passed on July 31, 2023, and remanded the matter back to the court concerned to consider the petitions challenging the arbitral award afresh.
Following this, Maran and his firm KAL Airways have decided to challenge the ruling.
On May 22, SpiceJet said it would seek a refund of Rs 450 crore out of the total Rs 730 crore paid to Maran and KAL Airways following the Delhi High Court ruling.
