In a major blow to liquor baron Vijay Mallya, the Karnataka High Court on Friday ordered winding up of Kingfisher Airlines Limited (KFL) for recovering US $6 million due to a UK-based company, which was supplying rotable aircraft components to the airline.
The Court has also directed the Official Liquidator to take possession of the assets of the defunct airline in terms of the provisions of the Companies Act and the Rules, and submit a report in this regard within four weeks.
Justice Vineet Kothari passed the order while allowing a petition filed by Aerotron Ltd, a company based in West Sussex, United Kingdom. The Court said that it would shortly release detailed reasons.
The KFL was required to pay US $6,023,724.01 to Aerotron Ltd as on July 4, 2012 of which US $5,192,483.80 was the principal amount.
The petitioner-company had moved the Court in 2012 seeking winding up of the airline for recovering the amount due to it while complaining that the airline had failed to pay the amount despite repeated reminders.
The KFL, it was stated in the petition, had admitted the liability and singed a settlement agreement to clear all the amount, around US $5 million, payable to Aerotron Ltd on a monthly instalment basis between March and October 2012. However, the KFL even failed to make payment even as per the settlement.
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