Jet Airways Insolvency: Jalan-Kalrock Gets More Time To Pay Dues To SBI

The NCLAT gave an extra period of over three months on Friday to Jet Airways' successful bidder, the Jalan-Kalrock Consortium, to pay back their dues to State Bank of India.

The Jalan-Kalrock Consortium had 150 days from Nov. 16, 2022, to May 15, 2023, to pay their dues of Rs 150 crore to SBI, which is part of the monitoring committee responsible for the smooth running of the grounded Jet Airways' resolution plan.

When the payment of dues was not done in time, the consortium approached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal to restrain SBI from encashing the performance bank guarantees.

The New Delhi bench of the NCLAT had reserved its order in the case on May 22 and it was set to be pronounced on May 30. However, the court decided to give its pronouncement in advance.

The tribunal expressed displeasure over SBI's role in delaying the implementation by threatening to invoke bank guarantees. The NCLAT observed that JKC was still in the process of implementing the resolution plan and while SBI can invoke the performance bank guarantee, it cannot do it until the plan fails. 

The NCLAT has now struck off a period of 97 days from Nov. 16, 2022, to March 3, 2023, giving JKC over three months more to pay back the dues.

Jet Airways halted operations in 2019 and the insolvency proceedings began in June that year. Later, the National Company Law Tribunal approved the plan of JKC. The airline's air operator certificate expired a few days back, but no communication about its revalidation has come from the consortium.