Jet Airways cannot claim ‘historicity’ over slots on any grounds. In its final judgement, the Mumbai bench of NCLT has rejected the new owners’ appeal on slots while allowing the implementation of the resolution plan. The new owners are Murari Lal Jalan and Kalrock Capital.
“The Resolution Plan submitted by the consortium of Mr Murari Lal Jalan and Mr Florian Fritsch annexed to the Application is hereby approved. It shall become effective from this date and shall form part of this order,” the two judge-bench headed by Janab Mohammed Ajmal and V. Nallasenapathy said in their final order.
The Jalan-Kalrock consortium had requested that the slots should be allotted to them on historicity basis. However, the order stated that “as already noticed, the Corporate Debtor had ceased its operation much prior to the insolvency commencement date and on the date of insolvency commencement it did not have any slots operating in its favour.”
It further added that viewed from any perspective, the slots cannot be allocated to the Corporate Debtor beyond the procedure prescribed under the guidelines. Therefore, “the claim of historicity advanced by the Corporate Debtor / SRA cannot be made available to it. Despite the temporary allotment of slots to other airlines, their restoration has to be worked out within the parameters prescribed under the guidelines.”
The bench further noted that even otherwise, the new owners immediately after the approval of the Resolution Plan would not be utilising all the slots. It can only seek slots as and when it has the aircraft and the attendant wherewithal and logistical support in place, which according to the Resolution Plan would be in phases. Therefore, “the SRA would periodically seek allocation of slots and we are confident that the authorities concerned would consider them favourably.”
The bench further directed the Government of India to the Country. Keeping in view the purpose of Insolvency Resolution “we trust that the authorities concerned, including the Government of India, shall take a holistic approach and provide necessary assistance to the SRA / Corporate Debtor in terms of the guidelines in allocation of slots as and when they are sought, so that the airlines takes off the ground and possibly regains its lost glory,” it further added.