DRT dismisses KF's plea for amending its reply

The Debt Recovery Tribunal today dismissed an application by Kingfisher Airlines seekingan amendment to its earlier reply on theoriginal application (OA) filed by a consortium of banks inthe Vijay Mallya bank loan default case and demanding Rs 3,000 crore toward losses suffered by it.
Kingfisher, in its amendment application, had soughtabout Rs 3,000 crore from banks which it claims was to begiven to it for proposed projects as per the agreement but did not happen resulting in the company incurring losses.
The airline, in its counter, had pleaded for allowing the application to meet justice, after quoting from earlier Supreme Court orders.

Kingfisher's counsel had argued that the company had incurred about Rs 3,000 crore loss as banks had not lent them money for new projects, which should have been maintained as per the agreement. Hence, the airline said it had introduced the amendment application.
"Allowing an amendment application is a rule and disallowingit amounts to a case of exception," the airline had said.
Kingfisher also had argued that there was no cut-offtime for any party to file their amendment application in the court of law, in this case, the Tribunal.

Bankers' counsel had prayed that the application notbe allowed and that thelimitation period of the right to claim amendment had elapsed.

Moreover, DRT should not allow Kingfisher to expandthe bankers' course of OA by accepting its amendmentapplication at the fag end of the proceedings, bankers counselhad said.
Dismissing the airline's application, DRT Presiding Officer C R Benakanahalli adjourned theproceedings for next hearing to July 13.
Mallya's now-defunct group company Kingfisher Airlines owes over Rs 9,000 crore to a consortium of 17 banks led by State Bank of India.
He had left the country on March 2 and is in the UK and has been declared a proclaimed offender by aspecial PMLA court in Mumbai on a plea by Enforcement Directorate in connection with its money laundering probeagainst him in the alleged bank loan default case.