Luckystar, the owner of Jet’s six-storey headquarters in Andheri, on Tuesday moved the National Company Law Tribunal against the interim resolution professional (IRP) seeking possession of the Siroya Centre.
The airline has its registered office in Siroya Centre, located in Andheri suburb of Mumbai, which is worth Rs 150 crore.
The counsel for Luckystar alleged that the IRP refused to give back the property, which was leased to Jet Airways, even though the lease agreement terminated due to non-payment on June 7.
He argued the IRP cannot seek protection of the moratorium issued by the tribunal as the lease had ended before the company was admitted under the insolvency process.
The tribunal had initiated insolvency process on the airline on June 20 while the lease was terminated on June 7.
Further, he said that on June 27, they had sent a notice to the airline’s IRP, asking him to facilitate repossession of the building. However, goods including computers and files of Jet Airways are still lying in the office premises, he added.
He claimed that the IRP had asked him for the security deposit worth Rs 10 crore.
The security deposit amount, he said, according to the lease agreement was adjusted when the corporate debtor defaulted and the money now belongs to Luckystar.
The building is worth Rs 150 crore, he added.
Earlier, mortgage lender HDFC on July 4, had moved the NCLT seeking to keep the Jet Airways headquarters in the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai out of the bankruptcy process.
The HDFC counsel had told NCLT that three floors of the building are mortgaged with the lender.
Meanwhile, in a separate application, the employees’ association of Jet Airways moved the tribunal seeking payment of salary backlogs.
The IRP said even one month salary is not possible on the back of running expenses.
The tribunal, comprising judges VP Singh and Ravikumar Duraisamy, asked the IRP for Jet Airways, Ashish Chhawchharia of Grant Thornton India, to discuss employee’s salary concerns with the Committee of Creditors (CoC).
The tribunal said even if 100 per cent cannot be paid some amount of the salary have to be given as it is important for the survival of the employees.
The IRP also submitted their second progress report on the resolution process for the airline.
