GMR withdraws cheque bounce case against Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines

GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) has withdrawn a cheque bounce case filed against Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines in a court in Hyderabad, after the airline agreed to pay the outstanding amount due to it.

"The case (against Kingfisher and Mallya) has been withdrawn. The matter has been settled by our client (GMR with Kingfisher)... They asked us to withdraw the case, after which we informed the court about withdrawal of the case which has been agreed upon," J B Chenna Keshava Rao, one of the lawyers of GMR said.

On October 12, the court had issued non-bailable warrants against Kingfisher Airlines, Mallya and four top executives of the airline who failed to appear before it in connection with the case related to dishonouring of cheques.

According to sources, GHIAL, which manages the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in the city, reached an agreement with Kingfisher over payment of the outstanding amount due to GMR (to the tune of Rs 10.5 crore).

Besides Kingfisher Airlines and its Chairman Mallya, the 13th Special Magistrate Court at Erramanzil had issued warrants against CEO Sanjay Agarwal and three other directors and posted the case for further hearing on November 5.

Under an agreement, Kingfisher was collecting user development charges/fee from passengers with regard to Hyderabad airport. The Mallya-owned carrier was supposed to remit GMR an amout of around Rs 10.5 crore.

Kingfisher Airlines issued cheques over a period of time since January this year but they were dishonoured when presented for clearance, leading the airport operator to file the case.

with inputs from PTI