United Breweries (Holdings) Ltd., on Wednesday, sought permission from the Karnataka High Court to withdraw money from the fixed deposits, which the company maintained in banks on court’s direction, to pay one month salary to the employees of Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. (KFA) on ‘humanitarian’ grounds.
In an application submitted before a Division Bench, comprising Dilip B. Bhosale and Justice B. Manohar, UBHL sought court’s permission to withdraw Rs.13.07 crore out of Rs.379.75 crore kept in the deposit account of the company.
However, UBHL has made it clear that it is only one of the promoters of KFA, and it has no legal liability to pay salaries to either the present or the past employees of the airline. It is making such an application purely on ‘humanitarian grounds’ as it has received representation from the Chief Finance Officer of the airline.
Audited statements
The Bench adjourned further hearing on the application to September 30 while asking the creditors of KFA and UBHL, which have sought for liquidation of these companies, to file their response to this application.
Meanwhile, UBHL submitted the audited statement of utilisation of Rs.1,460.36 crore received by selling 1.01 crore shares of United Spirits Ltd. to British liquor major Diageo Plc. The statement was submitted before Justice Ram Mohan Reddy, who is hearing petitions seeking court’s direction for winding-up of KFA and UBHL for recovering money due to creditors.
Mr. Justice Reddy, while asking the petitioner-creditor firms to file their responses to the audited statement, has postponed further hearing to October 21.
