SpiceJet has cleared outstanding dues: Credit Suisse informs Supreme Court

Credit Suisse on Friday informed the Supreme Court that budget airlines SpiceJet has cleared its outstanding dues [Credit Suisse AG and Anr vs Ajay Singh and Anr]..The submission was made by Senior Advocate Liz Mathew before a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah in a case connected with SpiceJet's failure to pay dues to the tune of $20 million to a Swiss aircraft maintenance company, SR Technics.The Court took note of the development and listed the matter for hearing in July to ensure that no more defaults are made by SpiceJet..The bench had during the previous hearing questioned how SpiceJet could bid to take over operations of another cash-strapped low-cost airline (Go First) when it could not clear its dues to the global investment bank even after initiation of contempt of court proceedings.The Court had directed the airline and its Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), Ajay Singh, to clear up these dues by March 15 and not take any further risks in the litigation..In May 2022, SpiceJet and Credit Suisse entered into an agreement to resolve their payment dispute. However, after disputes arose between SpiceJet and the bank, the matter eventually reached the Supreme Court.The Swiss bank had filed a contempt petition against SpiceJet in April 2023.In August last year, the apex court issued a contempt of court notice to Singh on a plea filed by Credit Suisse accusing SpiceJet of backtracking from a court-mandated settlement plan for the payment of the dues.Later, in September that year, the Supreme Court directed SpiceJet to pay $1 million per month to Credit Suisse for 6 months, towards clearing the long-pending dues from the airline company.Senior Advocates Siddhartha Dave and Liz Mathew represented Credit Suisse.Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal, Shyam Divan and Vivek Tankha represented SpiceJet and Ajay Singh.In August 2023, the Delhi High Court had asked SpiceJet and Singh to pay ₹100 crore to Kalanithi Maran and his KAL Airways, in view of a July 2018 arbitral award that called for a refund of ₹270 crores by SpiceJet.