Spicejet Moves Sc Challenging Delhi HC Directive On Grounding 3 Engines, Seeks Urgent Hearing

New Delhi, Sep 12: Low-cost carrier SpiceJet on Thursday sought an urgent hearing on its plea filed before the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court directive requiring the debt-ridden airline to ground three engines over repetitive failures to pay its lessors.

The matter was mentioned before Chief Justice of India (CJI) D. Y. Chandrachud for urgent listing, who told SpiceJet’s lawyer to send an email to the apex court's registry.

On Wednesday, a division bench of the Delhi High Court refused to interfere with a directive requiring the low-cost carrier to ground three engines.

Before this, a single-judge bench of Justice Manmeet Singh Arora of the High Court asked Spicejet to ground three engines by February 16, apart from taking steps to ensure that the engines are re-delivered to lessors within 15 days.

Challenging the single-judge bench’s order, SpiceJet moved an appeal before the division bench of the Delhi High Court and prayed for an urgent hearing.

In his judgment, Justice Arora had observed: “The defendant (SpiceJet) is a defaulter and has no legal and contractual right to continue the use of the engines. The inability of the defendant to pay the admitted outstanding dues is writ large on the face of the record and in fact permitting the defendant to continue the use of the engines without payment would only cause financial distress to the plaintiff (lessors).”

SpiceJet was permitted to continue the use of the engines after it undertook before the Delhi High Court on May 29 that it would repay the outstanding lease amounts along with the weekly payments.

The Delhi High Court had clarified that the return of the engines does not absolve the airline from its liability of payments which have admittedly fallen due.