The Mumbai Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Thursday admitted State Bank of India’s (SBI) insolvency plea against Jet Airways.

The insolvency court also rejected an earlier order passed by a Dutch court agreeing to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against the grounded airline based on pleas by some local vendors.

The NCLT, in its order, said it cannot take note of the Dutch court order, as no non-Indian court is authorised to pass an insolvency order on a company registered in India.

IRP appointment

The Bench further said that an Insolvency Resolution Professional (IRP) should be appointed for Jet. “It is a suggestion to the IRP that even though the limit is 180 days, they should try and finish the entire process in three months as the matter is of national importance,” it said.

The IRP has been directed to submit a progress report to the court. “It is further directed that the IRP take control of all assets and submit a progress report by July 5,” said the NCLT. The Bench, headed by Justices VP Singh and Ravikumar Duraisamy, also heard pleas on behalf of the operational creditors of the airline. It admitted new petitions from the pilots body, engineers and managers, along with two petitions filed earlier by operational creditors Gaggar Enterprises and Shaman Wheels.

SBI, along with other banks, is represented by law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. The counsel said the airline owes SBI ₹967 crore including an overdraft of ₹462 crore.

The pilots body, the National Aviators Guild (NAG), was represented by counsel Jane Cox, who told the court: “The company owes approximately ₹550 crore to its pilots between January and May. We are probably the largest operational creditors of the airline. While we would like the airline to be resurrected, we would request the court to seize the assets to revive the airline.”

The court also heard the plea of the counsel representing Jet’s engineers and managers. The counsel told BusinessLine: “There are several engineers and over 71 managers. Their claims come up to over ₹100 crore.”....... BL