Calcutta HC stays United Bank of India's declaration of Kingfisher Airlines as wilful defaulter

MUMBAI: Grounded carrier Kingfisher Airlines on Saturday said it has got a stay order from the Calcutta High Court against a decision of the United Bank of India calling the airline a wilful defaulter.

"The bank has been directed to file its affidavit-in-opposition by November 3 and the petitioners have been directed to file their reply one week thereafter. The next date of hearing has been fixed for November 10," airline said in a statement.

The griavance redressal committee of UBI had in the beginning of September declared the Vijay Mallya controlled airline a wilful defaulter for non-payment of Rs 400 crore of dues. Three company directors — Subhash R Gupte, Ravi Nedungadi and Anil Kumar Ganguly — also figure in the list.

Kingfisher, along with its current and former directorshad filed a writ petition in the Calcutta High Court against UBI and others, "challenging the constitutional validity of the RBI's Master Circular on Wilful Defaulters as well as challenging the ex-parte decision of the grievance redressal committee constituted by United Bank of India declaring the petitioners wilful defaulters," the airline said.

Kingfisher folded operations in October 2012 after a strike by employees over salary dues, due to losses and debt worth billions of dollars. Two months later, the country's aviation regulator suspended its license as it failed to produce a convincing business plan to resume operations. The license expires in December.