Supreme Court likely to hear Jet Airways lenders plea on October 12

The Supreme Court is likely to hear the plea by Jet Airways’ lenders on October 12 after the lenders challenged the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s (NCLAT) order giving more time to Jalan Kalrock Consortium (JKC) to make payments to them.

JKC is the successful bidder for Jet Airways.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the lenders, said that JKC was using tactics to delay making payments to them.

On the other hand, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for JKC, argued that JKC has made payments as per court orders and recently it has made a payment of Rs 350 crore.

The lenders had on Wednesday in NCLAT questioned the source of funds used by JKC to repay a part of the Rs 350 crore dues, saying the payment was not in compliance with the resolution plan and the money could have been “laundered”.

JKC is led by UAE-based businessman Murari Lal Jalan and London-based Kalrock Capital.

According to the payment schedule approved by the NCLAT in August, JKC was required to pay Rs 100 crore by August 31, another Rs 100 crore by September 30, and the rest Rs 150 crore was to be adjusted against the performance bank guarantee.

The lenders, however, said Rs 13 crore of the Rs 200 crore payment towards the dues came from “other sources” in contravention of the resolution plan.

The lenders had also expressed apprehensions about the consortium’s foreign partner Florian Fritsch, pointing out that his properties were searched in 2022 as part of a larger fraud and money-laundering probe.