Liquidation order of Supreme Court changed the life of Jet Airways

Supreme Court ordered the liquidation of the closed airline Jet Airways on Thursday (7 November), which gave a historic verdict. Now by auctioning these assets of the company, the lenders will be paid off. This decision at the Supreme Court was given by a bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI DY Chandrachud), Justice JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Mishra. The bench also overturned the decision of the National Company Law Appellate Authority (NCLAT) allowing the transfer of ownership of Jet Airways to Jalan-Kalrock Consortium (JKC).

The SC, owing to the peculiar and worrying situation, has ordered in view of such an extra-ordinary situation by invoking its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution during the hearing. The court has also ruled that a resolution plan is not implemented within 5 years. Convict had paid Rs 200 crore which has been forfeited by JKC. Besides, the court has instructed the Mumbai bench of NCLT to appoint a liquidator. Jet Airways, due to a financial crisis, had stopped flying operations back in the year 2019.

The consortium had promised a capital investment of Rs 350 crore to get the ownership of Jet Airways under the resolution plan. In this case, in March, NCLAT approved the transfer of ownership to JKC by maintaining the resolution plan and asked the lenders of the airline to adjust the Rs 150 crore deposited by the consortium. On this, other lenders including SBI reached the Supreme Court. The lenders also claimed that they were facing airport charges and other expenses of Rs 22 crore per month continuously and had spent over Rs 350 crore to date. Later, JKC purchased it through bidding in 2021 under the bankruptcy resolution plan, but the lenders went to litigation.