Jet Airways shares an update on gratuity claims

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Jet Airways has said the gratuity dues claimed by certain former employees of the airline will have no impact on them. The carrier also added that under the resolution plan, all the past claims and not provided for have been extinguished, and no new liabilities or claims are foreseen on the airline. The airline in a stock exchange notification said that the monitoring committee has duly submitted that all claims of the employees and workmen, including claims of gratuity dues have been admitted under the resolution plan before the Labour Commissioner.

Further, these claims which are part of the resolution plans will be settled in accordance with the provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, it added.

It clarified that no negotiation was taking place in the matter. On October 8, the Labour Commissioner is scheduled to hear from the employees.

Legal challenges may delay Jet’s return to skies

Due to the lack of funds, Jet has been grounded since April 2019. Subsequently, two months later in June, an insolvency plea against Jet was admitted by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). Then the Mumbai bench of the bankruptcy court approved an insolvency resolution plan submitted by UK’s Kalrock Capital and Dubai-based entrepreneur Murari Lal Jalan in June 2021, which proposed to pay the dues of Jet amounting to Rs 1,183 crore to its creditors over five years.

Since then, employee associations of Jet have flagged concerns about pending salaries and retirement benefits under the resolution plan, have appealed to the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).

In a similar move, Punjab National Bank which is one of the lenders of the airline, had earlier approved the resolution plan and challenged it at the NCLAT, posing a new hurdle for reviving the carrier.

All these latest legal challenges and the Jalan-Kalrock consortium’s failure to reclaim airport slots in the busy airports of Delhi and Mumbai could delay the resumption of services for the airline.