Observing that the petition challenging the order of a single judge of the Bombay High Court holding Jet Airways liable to pay Rs 1,450 crore for acquiring Subrata Roys Sahara Airways is not maintainable,a division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice G S Godbole dismissed on Monday appeals filed by both the litigating parties. Roy and Jet Airways had filed two separate appeals against an order of a single judge passed in May this year. While Roy had contended that Jet Airways was liable to pay Rs 2,000 crore for the buyout on account of defaulting on an instalment,Jet Airways had contested the 9 per cent interest that the single judge ordered them to pay on the balance instalments. The single judge had,on May 5,asked Jet Airways to pay Rs 478 crore of the purchase price of Rs 1,450 crore within two weeks to Sahara Airways. The amount included interest at 9 per cent since 2008. At the time of the agreement between the airlines,Jet Airways had paid Rs 900 crore to Sahara and agreed to pay the remaining amount in four installments from 2008. However,subsequently,the Income Tax department issued notices to Sahara to pay up Rs 107 crore that was due to them. While Jet Airways said that Sahara Airways was liable to clear the IT Departments dues as it was prior to the buyout,Sahara said that the tax was a liability of the company and Jet Airways would have to pay the tax after the buyout. Jet Airways then deducted Rs 37 crore and Rs 50 crore respectively from its subsequent two installments. This,Sahara contended was a breach of their agreement as Jet had defaulted on its instalment. As a result,Sahara Airways said,Jet would now be liable to pay the original buyout price of Rs 2,000 crore.
