Low cost airline SpiceJet on July 25 got another breather from the Supreme Court in Credit Suisse's contempt plea after the top court adjourned the plea without issuing notice. The case is now likely to come up for hearing in the third week of August.
During the hearing today on July 25, senior advocate Niranjan Reddy, who appeared for Credit Suisse informed the court that they have not received any amount towards the principle that SpiceJet owes them. Reddy argued that when the bank initiated the contempt plea, the amount outstanding was $3.9 million, however it has now increased to $4 million after SpiceJet skipped an installment.
Senior Advocate Shyam Divan, who appeared for Ajay Singh, the CMD of SpiceJet, against whom the contempt is filed, informed the court that they will continue paying $500,000 on the 15th of every month. Divan told the court that SpiceJet has paid Rs 16.4 crore to Credit Suisse so far. He furthermore informed the court that he will speak with his clients to see if they could increase the monthly installment to an amount more than $500,000.
The court accordingly adjourned the case to third week of August.
It is to be noted that this the third time the court is adjourning the case, the court has adjourned the case in April and May 2023 earlier.
Case so far
In May 2022, SpiceJet and Credit Suisse entered into a settlement agreement to resolve a payment dispute. The dispute arose from SpiceJet's non-payment of dues to SR Technics, a Switzerland-based company that provides aircraft maintenance services. SpiceJet had defaulted on dues amounting to $20 million.
The Madras High Court had ordered the winding up of SpiceJet due to this dispute, and the order was upheld by a higher bench. However, SpiceJet challenged this decision in the Supreme Court, which stayed the order in January 2022 and urged both parties to settle the dispute instead of pursuing litigation.
A settlement agreement was reached in May 2022, requiring SpiceJet to make an upfront payment and pay the remaining balance over an agreed timeline.
The settlement was achieved after SpiceJet successfully resolved previous disputes with De Havilland Aircraft of Canada (DHC), Boeing, CDB Aviation, BOC Aviation, and Avolon.
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