The Karnataka High Court, on Friday, admitted the petition filed by a consortium of 14 banks, led by State Bank of India (SBI), seeking winding up of Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. (KAL).
The court, however, postponed the process of issuance of public notice about winding up process while adjourning further hearing to the second week of January, 2014.
Justice Anand Byrareddy passed the order after KAL was unable to demonstrate any concrete progress made in the attempt said to have been initiated for reviving the company by holding talks with prospective investors. KAL in September had indicated to the court that it was working out a scheme for revival. During the hearing, Senior Counsel K. G. Raghavan, appearing for KAL, submitted a copy of an e-mail sent to SBI, intimating the steps taken to revive the company and informing that certain foreign firms are engaged in due diligence of the records of KAL.
He also submitted that the company had now directly engaged the largest creditors, the banks, in its process of reviving.
However, senior Counsel S. S. Naganand, appearing for the banks, said that no detail of revival process had been mentioned in the communication, and the company could have engaged the banks in the revival process about a month ago.
Meanwhile, the court also continued until further orders its November 18 interim order of restraining SBICAP Trustee Company Ltd. from taking possession of ‘Kingfisher House’, a prime property housing the airline’s prominent offices in Mumbai.
