Arbitration Panel meet put off till tomorrow

Mumbai, Apr 11 (UNI) Even as top officials from Jet Airways and Air Sahara are busy in fine-tuning the Rs 1450 crore fresh deal, the arbitration panel meet, that was supposed to take place today, has been posponed to tomorrow morning, on account of non-completion of documentation work.

''When a deal of such magnitude takes place, it involves a lot of paper work. We are still in the midst of completing the documents, which are to be placed before the arbitration panel during the hearing. For this reason, The hearing will now be held tomorrow morning,'' said a Sahara group official.

The postponement of the hearing was also confirmed by Mr Harish Salve, defence counsel for Jet Airways. ''Yes, the hearing has been postponed for tomorrow morning,'' he told UNI today.

The three-member arbitration panel comprises British judge Lord Stein, retired Supreme Court judges Justice S P Bharucha and Justice Jeevan Reddy.

Following two days of hectic negotiations, both Jet Airways and Sahara reportedly agreed amicably on entering into the Air Sahara buyout deal.

As against the earlier valuation of Sahara at Rs 2,300 crore, Jet is said to have clinched the deal for anything between 1,450-1,850 crore.

It was in January 2006, when Naresh Goyal owned Jet Airways entered into a share purchase agreement to acquire 100 per cent equity in Air Sahara for Rs 2300 crore.

However, in June 2006 the deal fell through, following Jet's failure to get regulatory clearances by the deadline of June 21, 2006, following which both parties moved court and the matter was directed for arbitration.

UNI