The Mumbai bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Tuesday directed the Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) of Jet Airways to discuss the salary issue with the Committee of Creditors after employee associations moved a plea to release at least one month’s salary. The tribunal also directed the IRP to submit a progress report on August 8 during the next hearing.

The tribunal, consisting of judges VP Singh and Ravikumar Duraisamy pointed out that “for the survival of the Jet Airways employees and their families, it is important to at least transfer one month of salary. The Committee of Creditors will have to consider this.”

The IRP, Ashish Chhawchharia of Grant Thornton India brought to NCLT’s notice that the salaries of the employees had been discontinued from January 2019 itself due to cash crunch. However, the NCLT at the end directed the IRP to discuss the salary issue with the CoC. In a BSE filing, Ashish Chhawchharia, Interim Resolution Professional for Jet Airways, had said the Committee of Creditors had voted in favour of sanctioning an interim funding of ₹70 crore. But it’s not clear if this would be enough to pay one-month salaries.

The bench also part heard the plea of LuckyStar Private Ltd, owners of Siroya Centre, the former headquarters of Jet Airways. Luckystar had licensed and leased the said property to Jet Airways which ended on June 7 and hence, the company had approached the NCLT for taking possession of Siroya Center from Jet Airways. The court adjourned the matter to August 8.