The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed a previous decision by the Delhi High Court, requiring low-cost carrier SpiceJet to ground three of its aircraft engines due to non-payment of dues to its lessors. The top court’s bench, led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, dismissed SpiceJet’s plea against the High Court’s verdict delivered on September 11.
“We will not interfere. It’s a correct order,” remarked the bench during the proceedings, thereby upholding the High Court’s stance on the matter.
The dispute originated from a single-judge bench of the Delhi High Court on August 14, which issued a directive for SpiceJet to ground three engines by August 16 and surrender them to their lessors, Team France 01 SAS and Sunbird France 02 SAS. This order was confirmed by a division bench comprising Justices Rajiv Shakdher and Amit Bansal, who found SpiceJet in default of the agreed interim payment arrangements.
SpiceJet had initially challenged the August 14 order, arguing against the grounding of the engines. However, the High Court, after reviewing the case, found that the airline had indeed failed to clear its outstanding dues, both past and current. The order to hand over the engines followed pleas by the lessors, who sought judicial intervention to enforce the termination of the lease agreements due to non-payment.
