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The government on Monday disqualified successful private sector bidder for Pawan Hans Ltd (PHL), a Central public sector undertaking engaged in providing helicopters.
The expression of interest (EoI) for strategic disinvestment has also been annulled.
“The government has decided that successful bidding consortium Star 9 Mobility Pvt Ltd is disqualified from the process of strategic disinvestment of Pawan Hans Ltd in terms of provisions of PIM (Preliminary Information Memorandum) and RFP (Request for Proposal),” an order issued by Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) said. This is second case of disqualification after Central Electronics Limited.
On April 29, 2022, the government had approved the highest bidder, Star9 Mobility Private Ltd, (a consortium of Maharaja Aviation Pvt. Ltd, Big Charter Pvt. Ltd and Almas Global Opportunity Fund or AGOF) as the successful bidder for sale of 100 per cent equity shareholding of GoI in PHL, following a transparent, open and competitive bidding process and laid-down procedure of strategic disinvestment.
Subsequently, it became known that NCLT, Kolkata Bench had recently issued an adverse order against AGOF, a member of the successful consortium, in another case relating to a resolution plan under the IBC. Considering the adverse order of NCLT, the letter of intent (LoI) was not issued in favour of the successful bidder. Meanwhile, the concerned consortium member filed an appeal against the NCLT order in National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), Principal Bench, New Delhi. NCLAT dismissed the appeal and upheld the original order of NCLT and directed that the NCLT order be forwarded to MCA and IBBI for their consideration on initiation of complaint.
After consideration, IBBI filed a complaint against the concerned consortium member in the special court. “The government examined the adverse orders of NCLT and NCLAT and took note of the complaint filed by IBBI and considered that the adverse orders against a consortium member would lead to disqualification of the successful bidder under the provisions of PIM and RFP,” the order said.
Show cause notice
Further, due opportunity was provided to the successful bidder to respond to the disqualification through a show cause notice. After careful consideration of the response of the successful bidder to the show cause notice, the successful bidder declared disqualified.
According to website of Pawan Hans, the company maintains and operates a fleet of 43 helicopters. The company has also been granted air operators permit for scheduled operations. Scheduled flights under RCS UDAN II has commenced in Himachal Pradesh and services are planned to be extended in Uttarakhand, Assam and Manipur shortly.
Over a period, PHL has logged more than 1 million flying hours and lakhs of landings and also plans to become a 100 helicopter company by 2027. Further to strengthen its core business, Pawan Hans is diversifying into the fields of small fixed wing aircraft, training & skill development, safety audit & consultancy, foreign projects and creation of infrastructure such as heliports and helipads as well. PHL has been commissioned as consultants for developing 31 heliports in Himachal, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh Assam and Manipur.
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