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Supreme Court on Friday stayed for three weeks the order of Madras High Court directing winding up proceedings against SpiceJet after the airline claimed that it is looking to settle the dispute over its outstanding dues with Credit Suisse.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana took note of the submissions of senior advocate Harish Salve that SpiceJet would try to resolve the issue with the Swiss firm.
“Senior counsel Harish Salve sought three weeks' time for trying to resolve the matter and Mr K V Vishwanathan (appearing for the Swiss firm) also agreed to the adjournment. Meanwhile, the high court order is stayed for three weeks," the bench, also comprising justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli, ordered.
SpiceJet has rushed to the top court against the January 11 order of a division bench of the High Court upholding a recent verdict of a single judge bench ordering it's winding up and directing the official liquidator attached to the High Court to take over the assets.
Recently, the division bench of the Madras High Court had upheld the December 6 verdict of a single judge ordering the winding up of SpiceJet Limited and directing the official liquidator attached to the High Court to take over the assets of the company.
The division bench by its order on January 11, however, extended the operation of the interim stay granted by the single judge, till January 28 to enable the airliner to prefer an appeal before the Supreme Court. SpiceJet moved the division bench against single judge order.
The winding up petition before High Court's single judge was moved by a Switzerland-based company Credit Suisse AG, which claimed that SpiceJet was indebted to it for more than USD 24 million and alleged that private carrier is unable to pay the debts owed to the firm.
According to the Swiss firm, SpiceJet had availed the services of SR Technics, Switzerland, for maintenance, repair, and overhauling of aircraft engines, modules, components, assemblies, and parts, which were mandatory for its operations. An agreement for such services for 10 years was entered into between SpiceJet and SR Technics on November 24, 2011. The terms of payments were also agreed upon.
*With inputs from agencies
