Bankers said the apex court’s order on Monday has finally clarified that the employee liabilities have to be borne by the consortium and the ball is now in their court to clarify and ensure there is enough funding to take care of these new liabilities.
“We will now need clarity from them on how they plan to fund this. The money has to come from them, which is clear after the SC order. It means that they will need to bring in more money to fund this plan. All this will have to be taken into account now before the company is handed over to them,” said a person aware of the process.
In a meeting on Tuesday, lenders approved the appointment of a new legal counsel and also decided to take up the funding of employee dues with the consortium.
According to the resolution plan approved by the committee of creditors (CoC) in November 2020, the consortium had proposed a total cash infusion of ₹1,375 crore, including ₹475 crore for payment to stakeholders. Out of this, ₹380 crore was to come to financial creditors to settle their admitted claims of over ₹7,801 crore for a 5% recovery.
Lenders say given that the new liabilities of ₹250 crore on employee dues have been added, Jalan-Kalrock has to rejig their plan to include that amount. “How they do it is their call. Though the lenders will not get this money, we will have to naturally figure out what they plan to do to bring in the extra money,” said a second person aware of the process.
Last week lenders led by the State Bank of India (SBI) challenged the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) order allowing the transfer of ownership of Jet Airways to the winning bidder Jalan-Kalrock consortium. Lenders have challenged the NCLT citing non-completion of conditions mentioned in the plan. Bankers said the non-payment of employee dues will also be a hindrance in completing the handover to the consortium.The take-over by the consortium has been hanging for one-and-a-half years since the NCLT approved it in July 2021 due to differences between the lenders and the consortium.
