Ticket to fly overseas costs ₹18,000 crore for Jet Airways’ Naresh Goyal

Source: livemint.com

• Delhi HC tells Goyal to first deposit the amount airline owes lenders if he wishes to travel abroad
• The airline has total liabilities, including unpaid salaries and vendor dues, of over ₹15,000 crore

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Tuesday asked Naresh Goyal, the founder and former chairman of Jet Airways (India) Ltd, to first deposit ₹18,000 crore the grounded airline owes lenders if he wishes to travel overseas.

Declining to grant permission to Goyal to leave India, the court sought the response of the Union government to his plea. The court was hearing Goyal’s petition challenging a lookout circular (LOC) issued against him.

In his petition, Goyal contended that as on 25 May, when he was deboarded from a flight to Dubai, no case was registered against him. At the time, there was no material to show that there was any attempt by Goyal to evade investigation and as Goyal is a non-resident Indian (NRI), he is required to travel abroad from time to time, argued senior counsel Maninder Singh, who appeared for the petitioner.

The fundamental right of the petitioner has been restricted, Singh argued.

Justice Suresh Kait, however, refused to grant any interim relief to Goyal while posting the matter for 23 August for further hearing.

“The petitioner herein contends that the impugned LOC has been issued without any basis. The petitioner submits that the impugned the Office Memoranda are bad in law and violative of Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution,” the petition contended.

On 25 May, Goyal and his wife Anita Goyal were stopped from flying abroad by immigration authorities. The duo was disembarked from an Emirates plane flying out of Mumbai airport.

In March, Goyal was forced to cede control of the airline he had founded more than two decades ago, after Jet Airways, saddled with about ₹8,500 crore in debt, defaulted on payments to banks and aircraft lessors.