Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Jan 4: Subramanian Swamy has moved the Delhi High Court seeking to quash the Air India Disinvestment process. On Tuesday, a Division Bench consisting of Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh will hear the case.
Swamy requested that any decision or issuance of any future approvals/permits/permits, etc. by the authorities be set aside and revoked in relation to the current Air India disinvestment process.
Swamy further asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the role and functioning of the respondent authorities and submit a complete report in the current Air India Disinvestment process solely to the Court, through Advocate Satya Sabarwal.
Tata Sons had recently won the bid for acquiring national carrier Air India for Rs 18,000 crore successfully Centre’s attempts to privatize the debt-laden airline.
Notably, the central government accepted the highest proposal from a Tata Sons business for 100% equity shares of Air India and Air India Express, as well as a 50% stake in ground-handling company AISATS, in October last year, marking the first privatization in 20 years.
The government signed a share purchase deal with Tata Sons for the sale of national carrier Air India for Rs 18,000 crore on October 25 last year. Tata’s would pay Rs 2,700 crore in cash and assume the airline’s debt of Rs 13,500 crore.
Tata’s outbid a consortium led by SpiceJet promoter Ajay Singh for Rs 15,100 crore and the government’s reserve price of Rs 12,906 crore for the sale of its 100 percent stake in the company.
Air India had a total debt of Rs 61,562 crore as of August 31, 2021. Before turning over the airline to the Tata group, 75% of the debt, or Rs 46,262 crore, will be transferred to a special purpose organization called AIAHL.
