Bombay High Court Says It Has Jurisdiction On Akasa's Dispute With Pilots

The Bombay High Court allowed Akasa Air to proceed against the pilots who left the airline without sufficient notice before the Mumbai court on Wednesday.

According to the court, a part of the cause of action, which is resignation, has arisen within the court's jurisdiction, which is enough to give the court sufficient jurisdiction.

“I am inclined to grant leave as sending a resignation through email can be sufficient. It is ultimately the company that has to make a call on the resignation. The company may refuse to accept the resignation, accept it conditionally, or accept it at a future date. If these options are available to the employer and can be exercised when the email is received (in Mumbai), the cause of action has arisen within the court's jurisdiction," the court held.

The court had reserved its order for Monday.

It rejected the pilots’ plea that the Mumbai courts did not have adequate jurisdiction to deal with the contractual dispute as it was executed outside the city.

The court will now hear a plea for interim relief filed by the airline on Oct. 4. The airline has sought a mandatory injunction on the resignations tendered by pilots.

Akasa Air (SNV Aviation Pvt.) approached the Bombay High Court after a number of pilots left the airlines without serving the required notice period of six months, as mandated by their training and employment contracts. They subsequently joined the rival airlines, causing significant financial and reputational damage to the airlines. The airline claimed that this was not only a breach of contract but also a violation of civil aviation rules, which require pilots to give a minimum of six-month notice before leaving any airline. It also sought Rs 18 lakh for breach of contract and Rs 21 crore as damages from each pilot.

The plea was, however, challenged by some of the pilots. According to them, Bombay High Court is not the appropriate court to decide upon the dispute, as the contract was neither executed, nor performed within the court's jurisdiction. Indian laws require a contract to be either executed or performed within a court’s jurisdiction, before a court can decide on a dispute.

Akasa disputed these claims. According to it, in addition to the fact that the contract was executed in Mumbai, which was a significant part of the cause of action, the resignation also took place in Mumbai, giving the Mumbai court adequate jurisdiction to decide the case. It claimed that pilots agreed to refer any disputes under the employment contract to the Mumbai courts, giving the Bombay High Court exclusive jurisdiction to resolve the dispute.

In a parallel proceeding before the Delhi High Court, filed by Akasa Air against the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the Delhi High Court will decide whether DGCA should intervene in the contractual dispute between Akasa and its former employees. The court is set to pronounce its orders today.