 "Akasa Air")
Akasa Air has approached the Bombay High Court instead of the Delhi High Court in an attempt to save money on court fees, a pilot's counsel argued on behalf of Captain Gareema Kumar, a former pilot with the airline.
The pilot's counsel, Senior Advocate Darius Khambata, was challenging the maintainability of suits filed by Akasa Air against its former employees for flouting mandatory notice period requirements before exiting duties.
He pointed out that had the matter been approached in the Delhi High Court, the airline would have to pay a higher amount depending on the value of the claim against a much lower fee in Bombay HC.
He argued that the move to choose Bombay HC over Delhi HC is to 'reap the maximum payable amount'.
Akasa has valued its claim at around Rs 21.42 crore, as per the applications.
Justice Shriram Madhusudan Modak asked if the Delhi High Court fees were higher, to which Khambata responded that Akasa will have to pay one to two per cent of the Rs 21.42 crore for the five suits in the Delhi HC over a maximum court fee of Rs 3 lakh in Bombay HC.
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"They (Akasa) don't want to do that. That is why they came here (Bombay HC) because the maximum court fees are Rs 3 lakh. This is the reason why they have come and there is no other reason," Khambata argued.
The court will now hear the matter on September 25, 2023.
Akasa did not respond to Business Standard's request for a comment on the matter.
Former Akasa pilots have argued that since the contracts were neither executed nor performed in Mumbai, the court does not hold jurisdiction over the ongoing dispute.
As such, they have said that since the employment contracts were executed in Delhi, the matter should be decided by the Delhi High Court.
Meanwhile, Akasa has argued that there is a specific clause in the contract which says in case of dispute, the Bombay High Court will decide the matter.
Akasa is seeking significant compensation from every pilot who left the airline before completing a mandatory notice period. It has cited 'operational losses' and damage to the airline's reputation due to the flight cancellations resulting from their premature departures.
The carrier's pilots are required to serve a notice period of six months (for first officers) or one year (for captains).
On Tuesday, the carrier had told the Delhi High Court that it is in a 'state of crisis' and it 'may shut down' due to the abrupt resignations of 43 pilots to join rival airlines.
This had caused the airline to cancel 600 flights in August.
Akasa's market share slipped from 5.2 per cent in July to 4.2 per cent in August this year following cancellations of flights, as per Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data.
