The Madras High Court has issued notice to private jetliner Spicejet limited, owned by Kalanidhi Maran of Sun Group, on a petition to wind up the low-cost airline company for defaulting on dues of Rs 8 crore to be paid to one of its creditor since the operation of flight service in 2005.
The High Court issued notice to the company's registered office at MRC Nagar, Chennai, on the petition filed by Narang International Hotels, which provides in-flight catering services in Spicejet flights. Operating under the name of "Ambassadors Sky Chef", the company claimed in its petition that the Maran-owned Spicejet ought to be wound up under Section 433(e) of Companies Act for failure to pay its debts.
According to the petition, the total dues as on April 17, 2014 comes to Rs 7.85 crore excluding interest, which has accrued since the operation of flight service in 2005. Of this, the outstanding amount for services in the Delhi sector is Rs 5.80 crore and that of Mumbai sector is Rs 2.04 crore. If the interest component is added to the total amount at the rate of 18 per cent as on May 2 2014, the total amount would come to Rs 8,02,94,933.
Section 433(e) specifically provides a right to the creditor to seek winding up of a registered company in the event of failure to pay debts. The creditor in the present case claimed that Spicejet has a paid up capital of Rs 484 crore according to company's balance sheet of 2012-13 and yet it has defaulted on payment of dues suggesting that the company had no intention to settle the dues.
Before filing the petition, the creditor even gave sufficient notice to Spicejet, through letters and emails indicating about the outstanding amount. In reply, Spicejet responded on February 18 this year acknowledging that some amount was due. In another reply, the company's Chief Financial Officer committed to draw a payment plan commencing June 1, 2014. Till date, no payment was forthcoming that forced the creditor to approach the High Court.