Air India wins nod to appeal against seizure ruling in Canada

AIR INDIA has won a nod of an appeals court in Quebec to challenge a Canadian court order that allowed foreign investors in Bangalore-based Devas Multimedia to seize the airline’s funds.

Three Mauritius investors and the German major Deutsche Telekom had sought the seizure to recover compensation for a failed 2005 satellite deal with Antrix Corporation, a commercial arm of the Indian space agency ISRO.

In a February 11 ruling, Judge Christine Baudouin agreed with Air India that the court should take a closer look at the claim to identify the airline as an alternative to the government of India to facilitate recovery of compensations awarded by international tribunals.

"Without expressing an opinion on the merits or on the chances of success in appeal, I am satisfied that the present matter is one that should be submitted to the court," Judge Baudouin wrote in a brief order.

She set a hearing in the case for May 13.

Earlier this month, a US federal court for the southern district of New York stayed proceedings to identify Air India as an alter ego of India to facilitate the recovery of compensation.

The shareholders - CC/Devas (Mauritius) Ltd, Devas Employees Mauritius Pvt Ltd and Telecom Devas Mauritius Ltd - have been targeting government assets abroad to recover a total of $1.3 billion (£960 million) in compensation they won in three arbitrations.

They have got an attachment order from a French court for the Indian government's properties in upmarket Paris.

On January 8, 2022, they got a ruling from a Superior Court in the Quebec region of Canada to seize 50 per cent of Air India's funds being held by the International Air Transport Authority, a Montreal-based trade association.

The judgment was also cited in the New York court by the Mauritius investors to seek seizures of the carrier's assets in the US to recover compensation over the failed 2005 deal to deliver communications services throughout India.

Air India has sought dismissal of the demand by Devas' foreign investors saying it is no longer a state-owned firm after its takeover by the Tata group on January 27, 2022.

Separately, Deutsche Telekom filed a petition in the US District of Columbia court in April 2021 against the Indian government, seeking confirmation of compensation of more than $135m (£99.31m), including interest, awarded by a Permanent Court of Arbitration in Geneva in 2020 over the annulment of a Devas-Antrix satellite deal in 2011.

This was separate from the three Mauritius investors' efforts in January 2021 to get confirmation of a $111m (£81.65m) compensation award made by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law.

The Mauritius investors held a 37 per cent stake in Devas and Deutsche Telekom 20 per cent (in 2011) when the Indian government decided to annul the Devas-Antrix deal.

Another plea was moved before the US court for the southern district of New York to identify Air India as an alter ego of the government of India and identify its assets to recover the compensations.

The Indian government had in February 2011 annulled a deal to lease two communication satellites for 12 years for Rs 1.67 billion (£16m) to Devas Multimedia citing alleged irregularities in the allocation of spectrum and the requirement of the S-band spectrum for security purposes of the country.

(PTI)