Willis Lease Finance not an operational creditor, says SpiceJet

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : Budget carrier SpiceJet has told the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Friday that Willis Lease Finance is not among the four operational creditors of the airline and hence, its petition against the airline to initiate a corporate insolvency resolution process is dismissable. After the hearing, the court deferred the proceedings and the tribunal is now scheduled to hear the matter on 31 July. Challenging the maintainability of the petition, senior counsel representing SpiceJet Krishnendu Dutta said Willis isn’t among the airline’s four operational creditors.

He said the petitioner’s submission to the court names West Engines (Ireland) Ltd as the engine lessor, and West Engines itself hasn’t filed the petition. Furthermore, during the hearing, Willis never mentioned being assigned by West Engines to file the plea. Dutta emphasized that Willis must provide evidence that they are genuine operational creditors and that a subsidiary doesn’t have the right to file a petition; only the assignees are allowed to do so.

SpiceJet also contested the admissibility of the petition and pointed out that the court’s earlier order only granted Willis liberty to withdraw the petition, but didn’t give any liberty to lessors to refile the same petition for the same matter. Willis is the third lessor to approach the NCLT seeking recovery of outstanding dues from SpiceJet. Earlier, similar pleas filed by Wilmington and Aircastle are currently pending in the tribunal and are set to be heard on 8 August and 17 August respectively.