Bengaluru : The Debt Recovery Tribunal will pass an interim order on Tuesday on the plea of a consortium of banks seeking a direction to Indigo and GoAir airlines under garnishee proceedings to deposit with it the money to be paid to Airbus by them, in a Kingfisher Airlines case. “I am under pressure, and I wouldn’t want any further delays. I would pass an interim order, tomorrow, on interim applications filed by the bankers,” DRT Presiding Officer K Srinivasan said during the hearing of the interim applications by the banks led by Oriential Bank of Commerce. He also directed Airbus to produce a letter containing details of its account held in whichever bank for freezing Rs 196 crore until the case is disposed o, reports PTI.
A garnishment is a means of collecting a monetary judgment against a defendant by ordering a third party (the garnishee) to pay the money, otherwise owed to the defendant, directly to the plaintiff. Airbus had availed Rs 196 crore from the consortium of banks on behalf of Vijay Mallya-controlled Kingfisher Airlines in 2005. Though Airbus is in receipt of the money, it failed to deliver the planes to the now-grounded Kingfisher Airlines.
The Oriental Bank of Commerce, Corporation Bank and United Bank of India, had made pre-delivery payment of Rs 196 crore to Airbus on behalf of Kingfisher after both the parties had signed a purchase agreement.