New Delhi: The Supreme Court has overturned the order of National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) allowing the ownership transfer of Successful Resolution Applicant (SRA) in the absence of full payment as per resolution plan. The court has also ordered the liquidation of the Jet Airways.
Earlier, the NCLAT ruling has ordered the transfer of ownership of Jet Airways to Jalan-Kalrock Consortium (JKC) as part of approved resolution plan. With this the court allowed the appeals of State Bank of India (SBI) and other lenders and ordered the liquidation of Jet Airways.
SBI and other lenders challenged NLCAT order
The apex court has also asked the Mumbai bench of the NCLAT to appoint a liquidator with immediate effect. The Successful Resolution Applicant amount of Rs 200 crore has also been forfeited by the court.
The judgment in the case was reserved by a bench of CJI DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra on October 16. CJI DY Chandrachud is getting retired on Friday.
SBI and other creditors, who lent cash-strapped airline, had petitioned the Supreme Court challenging the NLCAT order.
“This litigation is an eyeopener and has taught us many lessons about the IBC and the functioning of NCLAT,” a report in Live Law quoted Justice Pardiwala as saying.
NCLAT order violated set principles: SC
The Supreme Court also said that some of the provisions NCLAT order including adjustment of Rs 350 payment against Performance Bank Guarantee (PBG) contravened the apex court order delivered on January 18.
In its judgment, the court further observed that there is no doubt that NCLAT order violated the set legal principles and the tribunal wrongly interpreted the Supreme Court order.
Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Gopal Sankaranarayanan appeared in the court on behalf of SRA and JKC, while Additional Solicitor General (ASG) N Venkataraman represented SBI, who was the prime lender of the Jet Airways.
