India's Supreme Court has thrown out appeals filed by KAL Airways and Kalanithi Maran in their INR13.2 billion rupee (USD153 million) claim against SpiceJet (SG, Delhi International). Justices Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Atul S Chandurkar declared in their July 23 ruling that both special leave petitions brought by Maran and his investment company "are dismissed".
According to the legal news outlet Bar and Bench, the court held that Maran had engaged in a "calculated gamble" by delaying the filing and re-filing of the challenge to a 2023 arbitral award ruling in the legal tussle involving SpiceJet. The airline noted in a July 24 BSE stock market filing that Maran's assertions had already been rejected by the Arbitral Tribunal, the Delhi High Court, and then the Division Bench of Delhi High Court.
"With this order, the appeals of KAL Airways and Kalanithi Maran have been finally dismissed and the remaining issue to be decided by the Court is SpiceJet’s appeal challenging the (i) interest levied which has also been substantially deposited by SpiceJet in the Court; and (ii) pre-mature refund of CRPS amount by the Arbitral Tribunal," the airline said.
The court's ruling follows the appeals Maran and his aviation investment firm KAL Airways filed to the court on July 18) contesting a May 2025 Delhi High Court ruling which dismissed his claim.
The dispute stems from a share transfer between Maran and the current SpiceJet promoter and majority shareholder Ajay Singh in 2015. According to the agreement, Singh acquired a 58.46% shareholding in SpiceJet plus INR6.79 billion (USD79 million) in investment funds in return for redeemable warrants and preference shares.
However, the warrants and shares never materialised. Maran subsequently took the airline to court. His efforts to extract payment have, however, been only partially successful.
