Maran loses Rs 1,323-cr claim against Spicejet

An arbitration tribunal has rejected the Rs 1,323-crore damages claim from SpiceJet and a bid to take control of the airline by its previous owner Kalanithi Maran and his company Kal Airways, after a bitter share transfer dispute.

The carrier has informed the exchanges that on July 20, an arbitration tribunal rejected Maran’s claim of damages of Rs 1,323 crore for not issuing convertible warrants and preference shares to him and Kal Airways.

The case dates back to January 2015, when Singh, who owned the airline earlier bought it back from Maran after being grounded for months.

The arbitration proceedings were concluded in April 2018 and the arbitral award was unanimous.

While the tribunal asked Maran to pay Singh and the airline Rs 29 crore in penal interest, Singh was asked to refund Rs 579 crore-plus-interest to Maran.

The tribunal, created in end-2016 on the orders of the Delhi High Court to adjudicate the share transfer dispute, held that there was no breach of a share sale and purchase agreement reached between Maran and current promoter Ajay Singh in late January 2015.

While Maran could not be contacted for comments, SpiceJet on Sunday said there is no monetary impact from the verdict as most of the refund of Rs 370 crore already deposited in an escrow account created by the Delhi HC. Additionally, the tribunal has allowed a counter claim of Rs 29 crore.

On the dispute related to issue of convertible warrants and preferential shares, the airline said, “the tribunal has held that the claimants were to bring in Rs 100 crore required for issuance of CRPS aggregating to Rs 370 crore, and the same has not been deposited by them in the manner provided under the agreement”.

On Friday, the tribunal rejected Maran’s claim of damages of Rs 1,323 crore for not issuing warrants to him and Kal Airways, but awarded him a refund of Rs 579 crore plus 12% interest.