Pilots seek winding up of KFA
to get dues
NEW DELHI: Pilots of grounded Kingfisher have
served a legal notice on the airline for winding up the company to enable
recovery of their dues. The company now has three weeks for clearing salary
dues, failing which these exemployees will file a petition for winding up the
company in a high court. Engineers of the airline are also planning to take a
similar course of action.
"A notice has been served on Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) under section 433 and 434 of the Companies Act, which allows for starting winding up proceedings in case a company has outstandings and fails to clear them," said Ajay Brahme, the pilots' advocate.
Brahme added that criminal proceedings will be initiated against the airline for "cheating and fraud" . "We've also sought action under the Income Tax Act as the airline deducted tax deducted at source (TDS) but did not deposit the same with tax authorities and failed to give Form 16 to employees ," the lawyer said. While the airline stopped paying salary eight months back, even earlier for many months it used to deduct TDS from pay but reportedly failed to deposit it with tax authorities. They, in turn, raised the demand from employees.
"A notice has been served on Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) under section 433 and 434 of the Companies Act, which allows for starting winding up proceedings in case a company has outstandings and fails to clear them," said Ajay Brahme, the pilots' advocate.
Brahme added that criminal proceedings will be initiated against the airline for "cheating and fraud" . "We've also sought action under the Income Tax Act as the airline deducted tax deducted at source (TDS) but did not deposit the same with tax authorities and failed to give Form 16 to employees ," the lawyer said. While the airline stopped paying salary eight months back, even earlier for many months it used to deduct TDS from pay but reportedly failed to deposit it with tax authorities. They, in turn, raised the demand from employees.
While the ex-pilots have already initiated
legal action against the airline, engineers are also planning to take similar
steps. The Delhi-based KFA aircraft maintenance association met here on Sunday
and decided to initiate winding up proceedings again the airline which has not
paid them salary for last seven to eight months.
"We will shortly be taking this action," said S C Misra of this association.
Kingfisher has a combined debt-cum-losses burden of over Rs 16,000 crore. Airline promoter Vijay Mallya recently submitted a restart plan to the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) under which he proposed to start flying again with a capital infusion of Rs 650 crore from the parent UB Group. However, this amount has been dismissed as 'insufficient' by aviation minister Ajit Singh, who has made it clear that the airline can't fly again unless it is able to find adequate funds.
Banks, mostly public sector ones with an exposure of Rs 7,500 crore to the airline, have also asked that the promoter infuse at least Rs 2,000 crore into the airline if he is serious about flying again. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) last week decided to give away KFA's slots to any airline that wants the same.
"We will shortly be taking this action," said S C Misra of this association.
Kingfisher has a combined debt-cum-losses burden of over Rs 16,000 crore. Airline promoter Vijay Mallya recently submitted a restart plan to the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) under which he proposed to start flying again with a capital infusion of Rs 650 crore from the parent UB Group. However, this amount has been dismissed as 'insufficient' by aviation minister Ajit Singh, who has made it clear that the airline can't fly again unless it is able to find adequate funds.
Banks, mostly public sector ones with an exposure of Rs 7,500 crore to the airline, have also asked that the promoter infuse at least Rs 2,000 crore into the airline if he is serious about flying again. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) last week decided to give away KFA's slots to any airline that wants the same.
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