The troubles do not seem to be ending for the new owners of Jet Airways, the Jalan Kalrock consortium (JKC) anytime soon. Recently the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) ordered the owners to pay unpaid dues like the provident fund and gratuity to employees of Jet 1. As a next step, the owners are planning to move to Supreme Court against this decision.
The NCLAT dismissed JKC's plea regarding the unpaid provident fund and gratuity dues to the airline's employees further clarifying that the PF and gratuity dues would have to be borne by the successful resolution applicant as per the approved plan.
The tribunal also dismissed JKC's plea to cap its payment liability under the resolution plan at Rs 47.5 billion. Earlier, JKC had sought clarity that any additional amount over and above INR 520 million payable to employees be paid out of the bank balance of Jet, from the amount reserved for other creditors.
The tribunal’s decision is based on the many petitions sent by the association of workers, Aircraft Maintenance Engineers, Officers, and Staff Association. The Jet Airways Cabin Crew Association (JACCA) filed a liquidation application before the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking liquidation of Jet Airways’ assets on the grounds that there has been a contravention of the resolution plan. Any further delay in the liquidation process, the association said, will further reduce the value of the assets of the debt-laden airline.
The court had earlier asked the former resolution professional to compute the payments to be given to the workmen and the employees within one month from December 2, 2022.
The counsel representing the association said there has been a clear contravention of the resolution plan by the successful resolution applicant.
According to the plan, the successful resolution applicant had to pay INR 520 million in 175 days. An additional INR 610 million was also supposed to be paid. However now with 200 days gone by, a total amount of INR 11.3bn is yet to be paid.
The Jalan-Kalrock had won the bid through an insolvency resolution process for Jet Airways, which had stopped operations in early 2019. The airline is now preparing to restart services.