India's Supreme Court has declined to accept an appeal by Kalanithi Maran and his KAL Airways investment vehicle against a Delhi High Court decision to set aside an arbitral award in a long-running dispute with SpiceJet (SG, Delhi International). Handing down their determination in a July 26 hearing, the three-judge Supreme Court panel said the reasoning of the original high court judge who upheld the arbitral award was "atrocious."

Maran, a former SpiceJet promoter, and KAL wanted to appeal a May 2024 high court bench ruling that tossed out an earlier single judge decision to uphold a INR5.79 billion rupee (USD69.2 million) award to them in a dispute that goes back to the 2015 SpiceJet ownership transfer from Maran to the present majority shareholder and promoter, Ajay Singh.

In a series of legal outcomes, a July 2023 ruling by a single judge on the Delhi High Court upheld an 2018 arbitral award made largely in Maran and KAL's favour. Singh and SpiceJet appealed this to the court's division bench, relying on s.34 of India's Arbitration and Conciliation Act (1996) and arguing that the July ruling lacked "adequate reasoning." In its May 2024 decision, the two-judge bench agreed with the arguments from Singh and SpiceJet's counsel and overturned the July 2023 ruling, sending it back for a new hearing. However, Maran and KAL Airways appealed this outcome, resulting in last week's decision.

"This is atrocious, this is not the way to write an order under s.34, this is really atrocious," Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said last week about that July 2023 ruling. "Reading the order of the single judge, we find no discernible reason which has been made by the single judge and that there is no application of mind to the outcomes which were urged before the single judge. In this view of the matter, we don't find that the division bench of the High Court erred in remitting the matter back to the single judge."

"The Supreme Court’s dismissal of Maran's appeal vindicates SpiceJet's position in this protracted legal battle," reads a SpiceJet statement on the matter. "Following this success, SpiceJet will now pursue a refund of INR4.5 billion [USD53.7 million]. In addition to significant steps being taken by SpiceJet to raise new funds, this refund will additionally strengthen the airline’s financial position and enable further expansion."

The matter now returns before a different Delhi High Court judge for a fresh hearing at a yet-to-be determined date.