West Asia Crisis: Supreme Court Lets SpiceJet Move Delhi HC Over ₹144 Crore Deposit Order In Dispute With Kalanithi Maran

A Bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and Alok Aradhe, after taking into account the West Asia crisis and the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee 5.0 given by the Central government, directed the high court to consider Spicejet's request for modification of the deposit requirement.

"We permit the petitioners to approach the High Court in view of the subsequent developments where policy decisions relating to Emergency Credit Line Guarantee has been offered. The High Court may consider the request in view of the listing of the Section 34 petition for final disposal on 18th of July. With this observation, the Special Leave Petition is disposed of.", the court ruled.

The Court also clarified that it was not making any observation on the merits that could prejudice the pending Section 34 proceedings before the Delhi High Court, which is pending for disposal on July 18, 2026.

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Spicejet, at the outset submitted that SpiceJet was the smallest player among the airlines and had been severely affected by rising West Asia pricing and industry-wide financial distress. He submitted that the Central Government had introduced a bailout and emergency credit line scheme for airlines, under which funds were expected to be released by November, and sought time to clear the remaining dues.

It was stated that SpiceJet was not disputing its liability under the arbitral award of about ₹873 crore including interest, and had already paid around ₹729 crore in cash, leaving a balance of about ₹144 crore. He further submitted that property had been offered as security and efforts were underway to sell it but such sales could not happen immediately, as was ordered by the High court's single judge.

Background

The dispute arose from a January 2015 Share Sale and Purchase Agreement under which Kalanithi Maran and Kal Airways Private Limited transferred their 58.46% stake in SpiceJet to Ajay Singh for ₹2 along with commitments for financial support of about ₹450 crore. Disputes later arose over alleged non-compliance relating to warrants and preference shares, leading to an arbitral award dated July 20, 2018 directing SpiceJet and Ajay Singh to pay over ₹308 crore with interest to Maran and Kal Airways.

On review petitions filed by SpiceJet Limited and Ajay Singh, the Delhi High Court on May 4, 2026 refused to modify its March 18, 2026 direction requiring a deposit of ₹144.51 crore in cash instead of permitting the airline to secure the amount by depositing title deeds of its Gurugram property and declined to grant further time for compliance.

The Court held that hostilities in West Asia could not be used to avoid compliance with binding judicial directions, observing, “The hostilities which broke out in February-March, 2026 cannot be used to the advantage of the Review Petitioners and at the cost of repetition, it is made clear that this Court was not prepared to accept the offer given by the Review Petitioners for deposit of the title deeds of the Spicejet‟s Property in lieu of the arbitral amount, as in the opinion of this Court, the said offer could not be a proper compliance of the Orders of the Apex Court.”

Earlier, on February 27, 2026, the Supreme Court refused to interfere with the Delhi High Court's January 19, 2026 order directing deposit of ₹144.51 crore, terming the challenge “an abuse of the process.”

The High Court also observed that repeated pleas of financial distress by SpiceJet amounted to abuse of process, particularly in light of earlier Supreme Court directions dated February 13, 2023 and July 7, 2023 directing compliance with the arbitral award.