Jet Airways: IRP seeks more time from NCLT to pay salaries to employees

While seeking more time to pay salaries to Jet Airways employees, the Insolvency Resolution Professional (IRP) of Jet Airways told the Mumbai bench of the NCLT that some progress has been made with payment of their salaries..The IRP of Jet Airways informed the court on Thursday that total 7,400 employees are currently on the payroll of Jet Airways and around 200 of them were approached for providing pro-term funding. Out of them, 135 have agreed for arrangements..IRP, however, told the court that currently, the grounded airline has no revenue generated from operations and employee salaries remains a concern and requires some time..“Some of the pending receivables of over Rs 50 crore could be used to settle part of the salary dues,” IRP told the tribunal..Moreover, IRP has also sought the permission of the committee of creditors (CoC) to liquidate some assets in order to pay salaries of employees..A division bench of judges VP Singh and Rajesh Sharma of NCLT is hearing insolvency proceedings against Jet Airways initiated by a consortium of banks led by State Bank of India (SBI)..Earlier, on July 23, NCLT directed IRP of Jet Airways to discuss employees’ salary payment issues with Committee of Creditors (CoC)..The court had said that the salary claims of employees of Jet Airways are important for their survival. Employee associations of the grounded airline had, through their lawyers, moved NCLT seeking permission to release a month’s salary on an urgent basis.Moreover, Luckystar Private Limited, an owner of Siroya Centre, former headquarter of Jet Airways in Mumbai, had last month approached NCLT seeking direction to vacate IRP and Jet Airways from its premises..Luckystar had claimed that IRP is a trespasser for using premises despite the lease being terminated on June 7, after Jet Airways failed to pay rents. The IRP had sought Luckystar to refund security deposit worth 10 crore..On Thursday, the NCLT gave twenty days to Luckystar and IRP to reach an amicable solution on possession of the property..Appearing for Luckystar, senior counsel Janak Dwarkadas, after discussing with the IRP of Jet Airways, told the court on Thursday that there is a consensus with IRP on few points related to Siroya Centre..“We have agreed on few things such as Jet Airways can get security deposit partially refunded and the airline can get 30 days to vacate Siroya Centre. We will try to get final solution,” Dwarkadas said..The court was told that CoC is likely to approve the compromise plan on Siroya centre over the next two weeks..Last month, HDFC had also moved a plea before NCLT, Mumbai claiming that the 3 floors of Jet office in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) are mortgaged in its favour and cannot be part of the resolution plan. The proposal will also be made to CoC on claims made by mortgage lender HDFC..Jet Airways owes more than Rs. 8,000 crores to lenders including consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India. The grounded airline also has a large debt by way of accumulated losses to the tune of Rs. 13,000 crore and vendor dues of over Rs. 10,000 crore and salary dues of over Rs. 3,000 crores..Moreover, the court was told that the date of submitting Expression of Interest (EOI) for Jet Airways has been changed to August 10 from August 3. Consequently, all other proceedings are expected to get delayed by a week..The NCLT on June 20, had appointed Ashish Chhawchharia of Grant Thornton as Insolvency Resolution Professional (IRP) to oversee bankruptcy proceedings of the airline..Chhawchharia submitted a fortnightly report in a sealed cover on Thursday and next report is likely to be submitted on August 23. .The NCLT adjourned further proceedings to August 28.