Jet, Sahara battle now moves to the Supreme Court

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday dismissed cross petitions against the enforcement of an arbitration tribunal's settlement on the dispute between Jet Airways and the Sahara group over the acquisition of Air Sahara, now branded as JetLite.

The case is already pending before the Supreme Court.

The High Court's order was not on ''the merits of the controversy'', but on the applicability of an earlier order by a single judge of the court.

At the heart of the matter is money related to Jet's acquisition of Air Sahara in April 2007.

The deal was originally struck at Rs2,000 crore and then renegotiated to Rs1,450 crore after arbitration. Under the terms of the arbitration, any violation would mean a return to the original terms of the deal.

In March 2008, the income-tax department demanded pending taxes of Rs107 crore from Air Sahara, now owned by Jet. Jet Airways argued that since the tax liability predated the acquisition, it was not responsible for paying it. It then deducted Rs37 crore from its March 2008 payment to Sahara.