Delhi High Court Summons Spicejet Limited's CEO, COO Over Non-Payment Of Dues To Lessors
The Delhi High Court has recently summoned the CEO and COO of Spicejet Limited over non-payment of dues to lessors - Team France 01 SAS and Sunbird France 02 SAS.
Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora directed the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer of Spicejet Limited to remain present in Court on January 16, 2025.
“It is made clear that the request of the counsel for Judgement Debtor for appearance of the aforesaid officers through Video Conferencing has been specifically denied,” the Court said.
Justice Arora was dealing with an execution petition moved by the two lessors against Spicejet Limited. An application was moved by the lessors seeking compliance of a consent order directing Spicejet Limited to make payment of US$ 6,03,870.82 to the lessors.
About the Case
Granting specific relief to the lessors, the Single Judge had in August directed SpiceJet to ground three aircraft engines and restrained it from further using them. The court had also directed the airline to deliver the engines to the lessors at their place where the cost incurred in delivery would be borne by SpiceJet.
The lessors secured relief against the non-payment of the outstanding rental amount for the use of engines by SpiceJet. There was an outstanding debt totalling Rs. 4.8 million USD to be paid by SpiceJet for which the lessor approached the High Court seeking specific performance of the agreement which stated that upon non-payment of the debt amount the lessee/SpiceJet needs to ground the engines.
In appeal, the division bench had observed that if Team France and Sunbird France are prevented from exercising their contractual rights at this stage, they could lose both their assets, i.e., the engines, and the money.
“In this case, clearly there is no dispute about the fact that the lease arrangement vis-à-vis the subject engines obtained between the disputants. The record reveals SpiceJet is in default, and past and current outstanding dues remain unpaid. At the risk of repetition, it must be stressed that SpiceJet has violated an agreed interim arrangement for payment of dues, which included a term that, upon breach, it would ground the engines that Team France and Sunbird France could then repossess.”, the Court had observed.
Counsel for Lessors: Mr. Rajshekhar Rao, Sr. Advocate with Mr Anandh Venkataramani, Mr Saket Satapathy, Mr Anubhav Dutta, Ms Akshita Totla, Ms Mansi Tyagi, Ms Vishakha Gupta, Ms Rini Mehra, Mr Devvrat Singh, Advocates
Counsel for Spicejet: Mr. K. R. Sasiprabhu, Mr. Sanjeev Seshadri and Mr. Chinmayi Chatterjee, Advocates
Title: TEAM FRANCE 01 S.A.S. AND ANR v. SPICEJET LIMITED