The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its verdict on a petition filed by the State Bank of India (SBI) and other creditors challenging the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) order that upheld the resolution plan of grounded air carrier Jet Airways and approved the transfer of its ownership to Jalan-Kalrock Consortium (JKC).
A bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra today concluded hearing submissions of all parties including the appellant banks and the consortium and reserved the judgement.
On March 12, an NCLAT order had upheld the resolution plan of the Jet Airways and approved the transfer of its ownership to the JKC. The order had further directed the monitoring committee to complete the transfer of ownership of Jet Airways to JKC within 90 days.
It was further directed that the lenders of Jet Airways should the Rs 150 crore paid by the consortium as performance bank guarantee (PBG).
Lender banks to the grounded airlines including SBI, Punjab National Bank and JC Flowers Asset Reconstruction Private Limited challenged this NCLAT order in the top court.
The Banks have contended that the the consortium defaulted on payments prescribed under the resolution plan and was four years behind on its payment schedule at the moment. The consortium however blamed the creditors for the delayed resolution process.
The counsel appearing for the consortium told the court that the Jet Airways was grounded in April 2019, and JKC completed an additional infusion of Rs 100 crore into the carrier in September, 2023. Thus, JKC has fulfilled its total financial commitment of Rs 350 crore equity in line with the resolution plan.
In 2019, Jet Aiways was grounded due to a severe liquidity crisis and subsequently faced an insolvency resolution process. In 2021, JKC emerged as the successful bidder of Jet Airways. The top court today concluded hearing the case and reserved the verdict.