The Delhi High Court on Monday upheld an arbitral tribunal's order directing SpiceJet to refund over ₹270 crore to Sun Group promoter Kalanithi Maran..Justice Chandra Dhari Singh said that SpiceJet and its Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), Ajay Singh 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.The Court said that these prayers are beyond the scope of Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act (under which both Maran and SpiceJet had file their pleas) and therefore, the Court will not go into it.Ultimately, Maran only pressed for setting aside of order to the extent that it allowed SpiceJet's counter claim of ₹100 crores plus interest.Justice Singh rejected this prayer as well."After consideration of the entirety of the matter this Court does not find any cogent reason to interfere in the impugned Award dated 20th July 2018 passed by the Arbitral Tribunal in the arbitration proceedings initiated between the parties before this Court. Accordingly, the instant petition is dismissed along with pending applications, if any," the Bench ordered..The dispute between Maran and SpiceGet 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. According to reports, Maran claimed that he suffered damages of nearly ₹1,323 crores.He approached the Delhi High Court but the Court 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 pay interest of 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 share sale and purchase agreement reached between Maran and SpiceJet and Ajay Singh and therefore, 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. The Court today dismissed all the four petitions.Senior Advocates Maninder Singh and Sathanarayanan along with Advocates Nandini Gore, Sonia Nigam, Yash Dubey, Yashwant Gaggar, Vimal and Indira appeared for Kalanithi Maran and KAL Airways.Senior Advocate Abhinav Vashisht with advocates Atul Sharma, Abhinav Sharma, Gaurav Arora and Akshita Sachdeva appeard for Spicejet and Ajay Singh..[Read Judgements]
The Delhi High Court on Monday upheld an arbitral tribunal's order directing SpiceJet to refund over ₹270 crore to Sun Group promoter Kalanithi Maran..Justice Chandra Dhari Singh said that SpiceJet and its Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), Ajay Singh 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.The Court said that these prayers are beyond the scope of Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act (under which both Maran and SpiceJet had file their pleas) and therefore, the Court will not go into it.Ultimately, Maran only pressed for setting aside of order to the extent that it allowed SpiceJet's counter claim of ₹100 crores plus interest.Justice Singh rejected this prayer as well."After consideration of the entirety of the matter this Court does not find any cogent reason to interfere in the impugned Award dated 20th July 2018 passed by the Arbitral Tribunal in the arbitration proceedings initiated between the parties before this Court. Accordingly, the instant petition is dismissed along with pending applications, if any," the Bench ordered..The dispute between Maran and SpiceGet 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. According to reports, Maran claimed that he suffered damages of nearly ₹1,323 crores.He approached the Delhi High Court but the Court 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 pay interest of 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 share sale and purchase agreement reached between Maran and SpiceJet and Ajay Singh and therefore, 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. The Court today dismissed all the four petitions.Senior Advocates Maninder Singh and Sathanarayanan along with Advocates Nandini Gore, Sonia Nigam, Yash Dubey, Yashwant Gaggar, Vimal and Indira appeared for Kalanithi Maran and KAL Airways.Senior Advocate Abhinav Vashisht with advocates Atul Sharma, Abhinav Sharma, Gaurav Arora and Akshita Sachdeva appeard for Spicejet and Ajay Singh..[Read Judgements]
