Jet Airways employees have rejected the Kalrock-Jalan consortium’s offer under the
resolution plan and have challenged the plan in the National Company Law
Appellate Tribunal.
Kalrock-Jalan consortium proposed a sum of Rs 52 crore to settle admitted
employee claims of Rs 1,265 crore.
Bharatiya Kamgar Sena (BKS) and Jet Airways Cabin Crew Association, on August
18, filed an appeal against the National Company Law Tribunal’s June 22 order
approving the resolution plan. The unions said the resolution plan fails to protect
workers’ interests and violates labour laws.
Track your NCLT / NCLAT cases or orders in your apple iOS / Google Android smartphones. Available for free trial period of 15 days.
While Jet Airways had admitted claims of around Rs 15,000 crore, the consortium
offered to settle claims of Rs 475 crore of financial and non-financial creditors.
Employee claims worth Rs 1,265 crore were admitted and the consortium proposed
Rs 52 crore to settle them.
Additionally, for the employees and workmen the consortium offered cash and non
cash benefits including 0.5 percent equity stake in the airline to those who were on
the rolls of the company when it went into insolvency in June 2019. These benefits
would be shared only if 95 percent of employees give their consent.
However, of the 8,973 eligible employees only 35.1 percent voted in favour of the
offer while 61.6 percent abstained from voting. As a consequence, the proposal has
lapsed, the consortium informed employees today.
Meanwhile in their plea, BKS and the cabin crew union said the core principle of the
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code is to protect the interests of all stakeholders but the
resolution plan does not protect workers’ interest and instead jeopardizes them.
As per the resolution plan, the existing staff would be transferred to a demerged
company called the Airjet Ground Services on fresh appointment. The plan is totally
silent towards retrenchment compensation, continuity of service of old employees. “If
the said resolution plan is implemented then the core principles of Industrial Disputes
Act 1947 as well as other labour laws will be violated,” the unions said.
“We are not against the successful revival of Jet Airways but aggrieved by the
approved resolution plan only to the extent of the provisions of continuity of service
of employees and quantum of their pending legal dues,” said advocate Rahul Oak,
who represents the BKS.
