Go First case: Uncertainty looms over hearings as case placed before NCLT president

Go First filed for bankruptcy protection in May.

A National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) bench comprising judicial member Mahendra Khandelwal and technical member Rahul Bhatnagar on October 4 directed the registry to place the Go First case before the president to seek directions.

Benches at NCLT usually sit in a combination of two. However, the president of NCLT has the power to change the combination from time to time. Cases are allocated to benches for hearing by the president.

The bench directed Go First's case to be placed before the president since Khandelwal and Bhatnagar are no longer sitting together owing to a reshuffle in the bench combinations. They opined that since they had heard the applications by lessors substantially, it would be appropriate for them to complete the hearing and pass orders, lawyers appearing for Go First and the lessors agreed with them.

If a case is placed before another bench, it may have to be argued afresh to apprise them of the facts as well as the developments, and this would result in the case taking more than the required time to conclude.

Plea by Go First lessors

Engine and aircraft lessors to the grounded airline Go First have filed applications in NCLT seeking to be exempted from the moratorium on the ground that they had terminated the leases before the airline was admitted to insolvency.

The lessors had sought an interim order restraining the airline from operating leased aircraft. However, on July 26, the NCLT turned down a plea by seven lessors to restrain the airline from using the leased aircraft.

Go First filed for bankruptcy protection in May, blaming engine maker Pratt & Whitney for the grounding of half of its fleet and economic woes, a claim denied by the company.

The airline owes Rs 8,000 crore to a consortium of banks, which includes State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, IDBI, Canara Bank and ICICI Bank.

On May 10, NCLT accepted its plea to initiate the insolvency resolution process. The tribunal appointed an insolvency resolution professional, suspended the board and imposed a moratorium on the airline's financial obligations.