INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
PNB is the country's second-largest state-run lenderPunjab National Bank on Thursday urged a tribunal to quash the rescue prepare for
defunct debt-laden Jet Airways, declaring irregularities in it, a move that risks delaying any return of the airline grounded two years
ago.A consortium of London-based Kalrock Capital and a UAE-based businessman in 2015 agreed to pump in 10 billion rupees as working capital
and offer funds to financial institutions of Jet, which was struck hard due to piling up financial obligation in 2019
PNB, the court-appointed official in charge of Jet's revival, Ashish Chhawchharia, and a representative for the consortium investing funds
into the collapsed airline company did not respond to ask for comment.The nation's second-largest state loan provider PNB argues that Jet's
court-appointed rescue official had actually initially accepted its claim of almost Rs 1,000 crore ($137 million) from the airline company's
backers, however then reduced it by Rs 200 crore, according to its tribunal filing seen by Reuters.At the National Business Law Appellate
Tribunal, PNB argued that a reduction of the amount was approximate and illegal.On Thursday, the tribunal agreed to hear PNB's case, Extra
Lawyer General of India, Aman Lekhi, who argued for the bank, informed Reuters
The case will be heard on Sept
How PNB has been treated is wrong - both substantively and procedurally, Lekhi said.Once India's biggest private carrier, Jet Airways was
maimed by losses and a stack of debt as it attempted to compete with low-cost rivals and was forced to ground all flights in April 2019,
putting at risk its lessors, providers, loan providers and countless employees.Jet's resolution strategy was approved in 2015 by its
PNB has maintained that considering that the resolution strategy mandated just minimum payment of liquidation worth for dissenting financial
institutions it was entrusted no option but to authorize the strategy.
