The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Thursday issued a notice to SpiceJet Ltd, seeking the budget airline’s response to three insolvency petitions filed against it by aircraft lessors over ₹77 crore of arrears.
The lessors – AWAS 36698 Ireland, AWAS 36694 Ireland and AWAS 36695 Ireland – contended that SpiceJet had not paid rentals and other charges for three planes they had leased to the airline on May 19, 2019.
The senior counsel for the lessors, Pramod Nair, argued before the New Delhi bench of the NCLT that the debt of ₹77 crore was also recognised by the England & Wales High Court, which had already passed a summary judgement in favour of the lessors.
SpiceJet’s counsel, senior advocate Krishnendu Dutta, questioned maintainability of the petitions, arguing that those were solely based on a foreign court’s judgement and not on the agreement between the parties. The counsel also pointed out that the default date was the same as the judgement date and that the lessors had failed to attach any invoices.
Dutta said the aircraft lessors had already approached the Delhi High Court for the execution of the judgement. Until the high court decides on it, the NCLT can’t accept this petition, he argued.
The NCLT bench granted two weeks to the budget airline to file a reply and one week after that to the lessors to furnish their rejoinder. It listed the matter for further hearing on May 30.
Several lessors had filed insolvency petitions against SpiceJet in the NCLT that delas in bankruptcy cases. The airline has been successful in getting three petitions quashed on grounds of maintainability.
Last year, the NCLT dismissed Willis Lease Finance Corp’s plea, reasoning that the petition wasn’t maintainable as Willis Lease was neither an operational creditor nor an assignee of the debt. The tribunal also dismissed Wilmington Trust SP Services’ insolvency petition on grounds of maintainability.
