Mumbai: An arbitration tribunal on Monday began hearing the Jet-Sahara case pertaining to a collapsed take-over deal.
The three-member tribunal consists of retired Supreme Court chief justices S P Bharucha, Jeevan Reddy and Lord Stein.
"The tribunal starts hearing the case on Monday. It will submit its report to the High Court once the hearing is complete. And the High Court will give the final verdict on the case," Jet Airways lawyer Janak Dwarkadas said.
The Bombay High Court, on September 22, allowed Jet to withdraw Rs 1,500 crore, deposited in an escrow account opened for the purpose of acquiring Air Sahara, against a bank guarantee of the same amount.
The court also ruled that the interim judgement was subject to the tribunal's decision, which will hear the case from the second week of October.
In January 2006, Jet Airways signed an agreement to acquire 100 per cent equity stake in Air Sahara.
As part of the deal, Jet paid Rs 180 crore for the revival of Air Sahara and Rs 500 crore for Air Sahara shares, besides depositing Rs 1,500 crore in the escrow account opened for the purpose.
After the deal fell through – following Jet's failure to get regulatory clearances by the deadline of June 21 – Sahara moved a court in Lucknow seeking to bar Jet from operating the escrow account.
Meanwhile Jet filed two separate petitions before the Bombay High Court.
The Supreme Court had in August transferred two petitions filed by Sahara in a Lucknow court to the Bombay High Court for hearing.
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