Jet Airways’ cabin and ground crews have petitioned an appellate court for a stay on the Jalan Kalrock consortium’s resolution plan, citing concerns about pending salaries and retirement benefits. Two years after Jet Airways was grounded, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the Jalan Kalrock consortium’s resolution plan for the airline in June. Due to financial difficulties, the full-service carrier had to cease operations in April 2019, and the insolvency procedure began in June of the same year.
In their appeal to the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), the Jet Airways Cabin Crew Association (JACCA) and the Bhartiya Kamgar Sena claim that the airline’s dues for all workers were not included in the cost of the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP).JACCA claims to represent more than 70% of the airline’s ground personnel, while Bhartiya Kamgar Sena claims to represent more than 70% of the airline’s cabin crew.
The petition claims that the approved resolution plan requires Jet Airways’ subsidiary Airjet Ground Services Ltd to be demerged (AGSL). Employees of the airline who were on the payroll at the time the resolution plan was approved will also be transferred to the demerged corporation.“It also proposes that, as a result of the said demerger of employees, the corporate debtor (Jet Airways) will not be liable for all of the retirement benefits of said demerged employees at all, and that the said AGSL, which is not even operational, will be solely responsible for the said liability,” it added.
According to the petitioners, their members have been without pay since March 2019 and have filed claims with the CIRP.NCLT had previously stated that the company’s whole ground employees, engineers, and pilots should be considered an asset. “The aforesaid remark by NCLT, as well as the approach of Respondent No 1 (Resolution Professional), plainly displays that all workmen’s dues were at that time deemed CIRP expense,” the petitioners claim.
