The National Company Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) will hear the plea filed by Jet Airways’ lenders, led by SBI, against the winning bidder Jalan Kalrock consortium to recover pending dues.
Last month, the lenders accused the Jalan Kalrock consortium of not infusing money to repay creditors. Whereas the consortium said that banks opposed the transfer of ownership and challenged efforts to commence operations at the airline.
Notably, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had allowed the transfer of ownership of the defunct airline Jet Airways to the Jalan Kalrock consortium in January this year.
Additional solicitor general N Venkatraman, representing the lenders, contended that the NCLT had granted permission to the consortium to take ownership of Jet Airways based on specific conditions. However, he said, the consortium has failed to meet those conditions. Venkatraman expressed concerns over the consortium’s inaction, stating that they have not released funds nor initiated operations.
He pointed out that the Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) given to the consortium had limited validity and the aviation regulatory body was unlikely to grant an extension.
Senior lawyer Krishnendu Dutta, representing the consortium said that the Committee of Creditors had been preventing them from commencing operations, even after obtaining all necessary permissions from regulatory authorities and the government.
‘DGCA renews Jet Airways AoC’
Last week, aviation safety regulator DGCA renewed the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) of Jet Airways until 3 September.
However, the AoC is subject to certain conditions.
As part of the conditions, Jet Airways will be required to undergo re-certification in accordance with the procedure contained in CAP 3100, as applicable for issuance of AOC, and demonstrate compliance with all the applicable regulatory requirements afresh before the commencement of flight operations.
Besides, Jet Airways will submit a firm action plan for the revival of operations after the company is taken over by the SRA (successful resolution applicant) in accordance with the NCLT-approved resolution plan.
The AOC was re-issued on 20 May 2022. However, since the airline did not start operations, it expired on 19 May this year.
After flying for more than 25 years, the once-storied Jet Airways stopped flying on April 17, 2019, after running into financial difficulties. Later, it went into an insolvency resolution process and the Jalan Kalrock Consortium (JKC) emerged as the winning bidder. However, ownership transfer has been hanging fire amid continuing differences between the lenders and the consortium.