Bom HC to hear Jet-Sahara case next week

The Bombay High Court today adjourned till next week an arbitration petition filed by Jet Airways against the Sahara group regarding its aborted deal to acquire Air Sahara.

The case came before Justice D K Deshmukh - after the Supreme Court's direction to transfer all cases related to the Jet Airways-Air Sahara case to the Bombay High Court - who adjourned it till next week.

Last week, while not vacating the stay on the escrow account and advance paid by the Jet Airways, Supreme Court had directed the Bombay High Court to hear all disputes arising out of the collapsed deal between Jet and Sahara.

Earlier this year, Jet Airways proposed to acquire Air Sahara for Rs 2,300 crore. However, the deal did not crystallize as Jet's chief Naresh Goyal failed to get required security clearances before the expiry of the Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) in June.

Both the airlines had approached Bombay High Court and Lucknow Court seeking to restrain each other from withdrawing money deposited in the escrow account in ICICI Bank.

In July, the Supreme Court had stayed the arbitration proceedings in the Lucknow district court, with the result that Jet Airways was not allowed to claim the Rs 1,500 crore lying in the escrow account with ICICI Bank. This injunction will continue till further orders are issued.

Jet Airways had advanced Rs 500 crore out of the total consideration of Rs 2,300 crore in lieu of 100% stake in the Lucknow-based airline. In addition, it had parked Rs 1,500 crore in the escrow account.