Read Time: 05 minutes

Synopsis

The Bombay High Court on Monday reserved its judgement in the application filed by Akasa Air seeking leave of the court to proceed against the 5 pilots who had resigned from the company without serving resignation and the 6 month notice period. 

Akasa Air, an airline founded by the late Indian billionaire business magnate Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, has filed a suit before the Bombay High Court, seeking compensation of Rs. 21 crore from each of the pilots who have resigned from the company.

Akasa Air approached the Bombay High Court in response to the resignation of five of their pilots, who left the company without adhering to the mandatory six-month notice period. The company is seeking Rs. 21 crore in damages from each of the pilots and an additional 18 lakhs for breach of contract.

Furthermore, the company has sought an injunction against the pilots regarding their resignation letters and is seeking to compel them to fulfil their notice period obligations. According to the suit, the airline company and the pilots had entered into an employment and training agreement, which stipulated that the pilots must work for the company for two years.

Senior Advocate Darius Kambata, representing the pilots, argued that considering the place of dispute as where the resignation was received by the company (Mumbai), then the place of acceptance of resignation would be Delhi or Bangalore since the emails were received by the pilots in those cities.

He further contended that based on the admitted documents, leave should not be granted to the airline.

Senior Advocate Janak Dwarkadas, representing the airline company, argued that the pilots had not followed the proper procedure for submitting their resignations.

He further argued that it was not possible for the company to file cases in different courts all over the country and that the principle of convenience should be taken into consideration.

Dwarkadas continued to stress that the choice to file the suit in Mumbai was not influenced by seeking a lower court fee but was based on the agreed-upon jurisdiction in Mumbai as per the understanding between the parties.

Furthermore, he argued that since the resignations were conveyed through email, the provisions of the IT Act 2000 should be considered, which prioritize the location of the addressee (in this case, Mumbai) as relevant rather than the originator's location.

Case title: SNV Aviation vs Captain Gareema Kumar & ors