Shillong, May 10: The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) accepted voluntary insolvency case on Wednesday of Go First which is in financial trouble.
This grants protection under a moratorium from recovery by lessors and lenders for the ailing airline’s assets and leases.
The NCLT bench ordered that the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) be started and noted that an interim resolution specialist would assume control of the airline’s administration immediately.
Abhilash Lal was chosen as the interim resolution specialist to operate the airline by a two-member NCLT panel made up of President Justice Ramalingam Sudhakar and L N Gupta. It should be emphasised that the NCLT judgement has suspended the previous management of Go First.
To retain the standing of the airline, the suspended management has been instructed to provide the temporary resolution specialist with the help they need. The management of Go First has also been required to deposit Rs 5 crore with IRP in order to cover costs.
For Go First’s crew, the decision is also a huge relief because NCLT stated that no employees of the airline may be let go while the arbitration process is still in progress.
Go First also revealed today that, for operational reasons, all of its flights will be halted through May 19. Earlier, the airline extended cancellation of flights until May 12.