Govt rebukes Jet for blamegame
Adding a new twist to the dispute, government on Wednesday hit back at Jet for blaming it for delays in granting clearances and putting in place related policies, with Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel saying that "the policy cannot be tailor m...
By PTI |
NEW DELHI: The dispute over the failed acquisition of Air Sahara on Wednesday landed in the Supreme Court, with Jet Airways seeking transfer of related litigation in a Lucknow court to Bombay High Court citing jurisdiction issues.
But Sahara moved faster and filed a caveat in the apex court earlier in the day to prevent Jet from getting an ex- parte order on its transfer petition.
In its transfer petition, filed by law firm Gagrat and Company, Jet Airways prayed for a stay on the proceedings of the case filed against it by Sahara in the Lucknow District Court till the pendency of its case.
It also raised the issue of jurisdiction, saying that the agreement provided for Mumbai as the seat of arbitration between the two parties.
Adding a new twist to the dispute, government on Wednesday hit back at Jet for blaming it for delays in granting clearances and putting in place related policies, with Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel saying that "the policy cannot be tailor made to suit any particular airlines."
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Declaring that it would move the Supreme Court for transfer of cases, Jet had said on Tuesday that its share purchase agreement with Sahara for the Rs 2,300 crore deal was based on 'precedent conditions' being satisfied before the due date of June 21."These conditions related to some permissions given by the government of India as well as certain policies relating to merger and acquisition of airlines being in place," Jet had said in a statement.
Responding to queries, Patel told reporters that "policies are not made to suit any particular airline. If someone is dissatisfied, we cannot be held responsible... they are free to approach the government for clarification but the government is not answerable to anyone".
Jet's transfer petition in the Supreme Court comes ahead of the June 30 hearing of Sahara's plea in the Lucknow court, which as such has frozen the escrow account (of Rs 1,500 crore opened by Jet Airways for the deal) and stayed sale of shares pledged by Air Sahara to Jet in lieu of an advance of Rs 500 crore.
On June 23, the Lucknow district court extended the interim order on freeze of the escrow account as well as that on sale of Sahara's shares.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Jet, had then contended that since the petition on the issue was filed by Naresh Goyal-promoted airlines before the Bombay High Court, the Lucknow court had no jurisdiction to entertain Sahara's petition.
However, Sahara's counsel Dushyant Dave opposed the argument on maintainability of its petition, saying that the deal was signed in Lucknow and as such the court here has full jurisdiction on the issue.
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