With Credit Suisse moving the Supreme Court against SpiceJet, alleging contempt of court over the latter’s failure to pay its dues as per a court-approved settlement, the low-cost carrier told the SC that it will pay one tranche later in the day, and the next one in May.
The SC put the contempt plea on hold and will now hear the case on May 17.
“The Supreme Court did not issue any notice on the contempt petition and posted the matter on May 17. SpiceJet has made the applicable April payment as per schedule and has submitted to the Supreme Court that the payment for May shall also be as per schedule. The payment of settlement amount was subject to RBI approval and hence the company could not start the payment as per applicable schedule under the consent terms,” a SpiceJet spokesperson said.
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In May 2022, SpiceJet and Credit Suisse AG had entered into a settlement on a payment dispute. The dispute rose over the non-payment of dues by the carrier to Switzerland-based SR Technics, which maintains, repairs and overhauls aircraft for airlines. SpiceJet had defaulted on dues to the tune of $20 million.
This dispute led to the Madras High Court’s single-judge bench ordering the winding up of SpiceJet. The order was upheld by a division bench of the HC.
Subsequently, SpiceJet moved the Supreme Court against the order. Staying the HC order, the apex court asked both sides to settle the dispute within a specified time frame, to which they agreed.
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Following this, a settlement agreement was drawn up in May 2022 and it required SpiceJet to pay a certain amount upfront and the balance over a mutually agreed timeline.
The settlement was arrived at after SpiceJet successfully settled its previous disputes with De Havilland Aircraft of Canada (DHC), Boeing, CDB Aviation, BOC Aviation and Avolon.