Jet Airways and Air Sahara sparred in a Lucknow court today over where the case involving the lapsed acquisition agreement should be heard.After three hours of inconclusive arguments during which Jet questioned the mainatainability of Sahara's petition, District and Sessions Judge Shiv Charan Sharma posted the hearing to June 30 and said if necessary it will continue on July 1. He also extended freeze on the Rs 500 crore escrow account of Jet Airways with ICICI Bank till July 1.Sahara was represented by senior Supreme Court lawyer Dushyant Dave while Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued on behalf of Jet. At the last hearing on Wednesday, both were represented by local lawyers.The Jet counsel said it was beyond the jurisdiction of the Lucknow court to hear the case as Jet had already filed a petition before the Bombay High Court.He maintained that under Section 42 of the Civil Procedure Code the petition had to be disposed by the Bombay High Court before the lower court could continue hearing it.Jet's deal to acquire Air Sahara for $500 million, signed on January 19 this year, lapsed on June 22 midnight.The Air Sahara counsel said the issue was within the jurisdiction of the Lucknow district and sessions court as the deal was negotiated and the agreement signed in Lucknow. The head office of the Sahara India Commercial Corporation, the petitioner, was situated in Lucknow so the case should be conducted in Lucknow only, he said.The Lucknow court had on Wednesday stayed the operation of the escrow account till today and restrained any payment from it.The Air Sahara petition, filed on Wednesday, had alleged that Jet had terminated the contract creating a dispute and an arbitrator had to be appointed.Jet has also challenged the impleadment of ICICI Bank in the petition along with Sahara contending that the bank was not party to the failed Rs 2,300 crore deal.Sahara, which on Wednesday had succeeded in restraining Jet from withdrawing the escrow account opposed the argument on maintainability of its petition saying that the deal was signed in Lucknow and as such the court here has full jurisdiction on the issue.Further, senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for Sahara, submitted that the Bombay High Court has not yet taken cognizance of Jet's petition.
