The Mumbai Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) said on Wednesday it will hear State Bank of India’s (SBI) insolvency plea against Jet Airways on Thursday.
SBI, along with 26 other banks, on Monday, had unanimously decided to drag the airline to the NCLT to recover dues, filing a petition under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
On Wednesday, a Jet Airways pilots’ union and two Dutch logistics vendors also moved the NCLT, asking that they be made parties to the insolvency proceedings.
A PTI report said the two logistics vendors had confiscated a passenger plane of Jet at the Amsterdam airport late March seeking dues. Also, a local had, in May, ordered bankruptcy process against the grounded airline and had appointed Rocco Mulder as the administrator for the bankruptcy proceedings.
Operational creditors
Last week, NCLT Mumbai had adjourned operational creditors Gaggar Enterprises and Shaman Wheels’ petition against Jet to June 20 as no representatives from the debt-strapped airline was present on the date of hearing. The airline owes ₹53 lakh and over ₹6 crore respectively to Gaggar and Shaman.
Dragging the airline to the NCLT is the latest attempt by the lenders to recover their debt. Jet Airways owes over ₹14,000 crore to financial and operational creditors.
The airline had temporarily shut operations on April 17. At its peak, it had 22,000 employees including 6,000 contract employees.
Recovery claim
A group of Jet Airways employees — who had proposed a management takeover of the airline — will shortly meet the Finance Minister to seek a review of the lenders’ decision to approach the NCLT. Meanwhile, representatives of Jet pilots and engineer body told BusinessLine that on the basis of the recovery letters they had acquired from the Regional Labour Commissioner, they will file a recovery claim as well with the NCLT.
On Thursday, Jet Airways’ stock price tanked 18.17 per cent to close at ₹33.10 on the BSE.