The Crossbill News Desk
Two former pilots of the defunct Kingfisher Airlines have moved the Karnataka High Court seeking payment of long-pending salary dues, alleging that they continue to wait for compensation years after the airline entered liquidation proceedings.
The petitions were briefly heard on Wednesday by a single-judge bench of Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum, who directed counsel for the petitioners—Captain Mukesh Singh Shaktawat and Captain Desmond D’mello—to furnish copies of the plea to the counsel representing the court-appointed official liquidator.
The court has scheduled the next hearing for April 8, The Indian Express reported.
Advocate Chaitanya Agarwal, representing the petitioners, said, “At present, two petitions have been filed before the High Court, but there are other similarly placed former employees of the Airlines who have approached the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking the same relief of payment of salaries due to them.”
According to Shaktawat’s petition, he served the airline between December 1, 2005, and February 13, 2014, but did not receive salary and related dues amounting to approximately Rs 1,39,77,487 crore for the period from July 2011 to February 2014.
The plea states that although the official liquidator finalised the payable amount during 2022–2023, only provident fund dues have been released so far.
The petitioner further submitted that a reply dated July 30, 2025, from the official liquidator indicated that the State Bank of India (SBI) had not released funds generated from the sale of the airline’s assets. However, the plea notes that reports suggest more than Rs 142.24 crore was transferred by SBI—leading the consortium of creditor banks—to the official liquidator on December 15, 2025. The total claims submitted by workmen before the liquidator are estimated at around Rs 311 crore.
Shaktawat contended that creditor banks had reportedly recovered nearly Rs 14,000 crore through asset monetisation.
“If the interest on these amounts (salary due) is ignored for a moment, then the amount is sufficient to service the entire principal amounts due to the workmen and secured creditors,” he said.
The petition argues that failure to disburse approved salary dues even after completion of liquidation proceedings constitutes serious injustice and violates the petitioner’s fundamental right to life and livelihood under Article 21 of the Constitution. It also emphasises that former employees fall within the definition of ‘workmen’ under Section 2(s) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.
Highlighting the prolonged delay, the plea states, “More than 10 years have elapsed since salary dues have not been received by the petitioner, leading to great financial hardship.”
The case has once again drawn attention to unresolved employee claims arising from one of India’s most high-profile airline collapses, with former staff continuing to pursue legal remedies for unpaid wages more than a decade after operations ceased.
The petitions were briefly heard on Wednesday by a single-judge bench of Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum, who directed counsel for the petitioners—Captain Mukesh Singh Shaktawat and Captain Desmond D’mello—to furnish copies of the plea to the counsel representing the court-appointed official liquidator.
The court has scheduled the next hearing for April 8, The Indian Express reported.
Advocate Chaitanya Agarwal, representing the petitioners, said, “At present, two petitions have been filed before the High Court, but there are other similarly placed former employees of the Airlines who have approached the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking the same relief of payment of salaries due to them.”
According to Shaktawat’s petition, he served the airline between December 1, 2005, and February 13, 2014, but did not receive salary and related dues amounting to approximately Rs 1,39,77,487 crore for the period from July 2011 to February 2014.
The plea states that although the official liquidator finalised the payable amount during 2022–2023, only provident fund dues have been released so far.
The petitioner further submitted that a reply dated July 30, 2025, from the official liquidator indicated that the State Bank of India (SBI) had not released funds generated from the sale of the airline’s assets. However, the plea notes that reports suggest more than Rs 142.24 crore was transferred by SBI—leading the consortium of creditor banks—to the official liquidator on December 15, 2025. The total claims submitted by workmen before the liquidator are estimated at around Rs 311 crore.
Shaktawat contended that creditor banks had reportedly recovered nearly Rs 14,000 crore through asset monetisation.
“If the interest on these amounts (salary due) is ignored for a moment, then the amount is sufficient to service the entire principal amounts due to the workmen and secured creditors,” he said.
The petition argues that failure to disburse approved salary dues even after completion of liquidation proceedings constitutes serious injustice and violates the petitioner’s fundamental right to life and livelihood under Article 21 of the Constitution. It also emphasises that former employees fall within the definition of ‘workmen’ under Section 2(s) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.
Highlighting the prolonged delay, the plea states, “More than 10 years have elapsed since salary dues have not been received by the petitioner, leading to great financial hardship.”
The case has once again drawn attention to unresolved employee claims arising from one of India’s most high-profile airline collapses, with former staff continuing to pursue legal remedies for unpaid wages more than a decade after operations ceased.
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