New owners of Jet Airways, the Jalan-Kalrock consortium, will have to settle unpaid gratuity and provident fund obligations of the company’s workers as the airline gets ready to resume operations, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) ordered.

The NCLAT, on Friday, directed the former resolution professional to “compute the payments to be made to workmen and employees within one month” and communicate it to the consortium so that the latter can make payments.

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“Successful Resolution Applicant is directed to make payment of unpaid provident fund to the workmen till the date of insolvency commencement, after deducting the amount already paid towards the provident fund in the Resolution Plan to the workmen,” the NCLAT order said.

Entitled to payment

The NCLAT order said workmen are “also entitled” to payment of their gratuity dues “as on the insolvency commencement date”, after deducting any amount “already paid” towards PF or/and towards gratuity, under the resolution plan.

However, the tribunal also said, “entitlement of those employees and workmen, who were demerged into AGSL (Airways subsidiary Airjet Ground Services Ltd), a subsidiary of Jet Airways, shall not be there, since the demerger has not been treated as a termination of their services.”

“Employees are entitled to the payment of their full PF, unpaid up to the date of insolvency commencement date. It is made clear that the full payment of PF would be that of unpaid part of provident fund, which has not been deposited by the Corporate Debtor in the EPFO,” the 143-page order said.

The NCLAT order came over the petition challenging the orders of the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal, which had on June 22, 2021, approved the bids of the Jalan-Kalrock consortium. Five appeals have been filed by the workmen and employees of Jet Airways and three by operational creditors.

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