 "Jet airways")
The Supreme Court on Wednesday saw a faceoff between the lenders of Jet Airways and the successful bidder for the grounded airline, with the creditors dubbing the resolution plan as a “joke”.
“From resolution this has to go to dissolution. This thing has become a joke,” senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the lenders, told the apex court.
The lenders said that the successful bidder, Jalan Kalrock Consortium(JKC), has to obtain an international flying permit for 20 aircraft as part of the resolution plan. But so far, JKC has managed to get just five aircraft.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) had on March 12 greenlit the transfer of ownership of Jet Airways to JKC.
It upheld the order of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which had permitted the transfer of ownership to JKC in January last year. Consequently, the appeal by the State Bank of India (SBI) against the takeover of the airline by JKC was dismissed.
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The lenders then appealed against this order in the Supreme Court. They told the court they are spending almost Rs 22 crore every month as airport dues.
“He (JKC) has not even been able to arrange for Rs 150 crore. He wants a performance guarantee encashed instead of paying the money,” Salve said.
In the last hearing, they had said the NCLAT order was shocking.
“It is a shocking order and is completely unacceptable. It reverses a Supreme Court ruling on the Rs 150 crore bank guarantee. We are supposed to collect Rs 4,400 crore, they are struggling to repay Rs 300 crore now,” Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Venkatraman, appearing for SBI, had told the Supreme Court.
Ace Aviation plea
Malta-based Ace Aviation had moved the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in Mumbai, on May 2, against the monitoring committee of Jet Airways, expressing difficulties in purchasing three aircraft of Jet Airways.
The sale of these aircraft was put on hold in November 2022 owing to a deadlock between JKC and the lenders.
The NCLT has told the monitoring committee to file a response to the plea before May 17, which is the next date of the hearing.
Ace Aviation, which has been fighting Jet Airways for the acquisition of three Boeing B777 aircraft, had earlier told Business Standard that it must acquire them in six months as the deadline for the conversion of these wide-bodied planes to freighter aircraft is in early 2025.
