The Calcutta High Court on Thursday held that Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) officials, representing the board, be present for a hearing with the Kolkata-head-quartered United Bank of India in connection with the “wilful default” notice served by the bank.
Kingfisher wanted to send its legal representative (lawyer) to be present for the hearing. However, UBI insisted on presence of company officials. UBI has an exposure to the tune of around ₹400 crore to the grounded airline, as part of a lenders’ consortium led by State Bank of India. A Division Bench upheld a previous order by a Single Judge Bench that KFA authorities be represented by its company officials.
According to Deepak Narang, Executive Director, UBI, the High Court has dismissed the appeal by KFA against a Single Bench order that Vijay Mallya and the board may be represented by its law officers or company secretaries and the withdrawal of ‘wilful default notice’.
“Kingfisher had wanted that its legal representatives to appear in the personal hearing. They had moved the court against our objection. The Division Bench has now held that law officers or company secretary or the CFO, who are employees of the company, can represent them,” he said on the sidelines of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana programme here.