Jet Airways crisis: Two operational creditors of debt-laden airline file petitions in NCLT to recover dues

As the efforts to revive Jet Airways, which was grounded in April this year due to acute liquidity crunch, are underway, two of the debt-laden airline’s operational creditors moved the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) with insolvency petitions, a media report said. According to The Economic Times, if the NCLT accepts the petitions of Shaman Wheels and Gaggar Enterprises under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), these firms would also have to become party to the case to recover their money. The bankruptcy court is expected to hear the case on Monday. [caption id=“attachment_6637731” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representative image. Reuters[/caption] Rishabh Seth of Mumbai-based Shaman Wheels said his company had moved the NCLT after Jet Airways defaulted on dues of around Rs 6.82 crore. Ahmedabad-based Gaggar Enterprises used to supply packaged drinking water to the crisis-hit airline, the report said. The move by Shaman Wheels and Gaggar Enterprises came at a time when Hinduja Group is evaluating an opportunity to invest in the now-grounded Jet Airways. As part of it, the Hindujas had sought assurances from the government that the investigation connected to the crisis-hit airline should be put on fast-track before finalising investment. Besides this, Hindujas also wanted to ensure that they would not be dragged into any cases linked to financial irregularities that allegedly took place during the tenure of the airline’s founder Naresh Goyal. On 25 May this year, Goyal and his wife Anita were denied permission to travel abroad by the immigration authority at Mumbai airport. The couple was to travel by Dubai-bound Emirates flight EK 507 when the immigration authority denied them permission to fly. Early last month, HDFC, one of the lenders to Jet Airways, had decided to auction prime office space owned by the airline in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) after it failed to pay back a loan of Rs 414.80 crore. The office space that is part of Jet Airways Godrej BKC, a 12-storey premium commercial building, will be auctioned on 15 May at a base price of Rs 245 crore. Last month, the airline was hit by the sudden exit of over half a dozen of its top-level executives including CEO Vinay Dube even amid the lenders’ consortium led by State Bank of India (SBI) was exploring options to revive the airline. In February this year, SBI was mulling to move NCLT to recover its loans from Jet Airways as it felt the airline was then running out of funds for operations, even as shareholders of the debt-laden carrier approved a debt rejig plan, reported PTI.