Kingfisher Airlines has lost licence: DGCA chief

January 1, 2013

Mumbai, Jan 1: India's troubled Kingfisher Airlines has lost its permit to fly after a deadline to renew its suspended licence expired, the national aviation regulator said on Tuesday.

The news is a fresh blow for the debt-laden carrier whose operations have been grounded since October after employees went on strike over unpaid wages.

"Kingfisher's flying permit has lapsed," DGCA chief Arun Mishra told AFP.

"They failed to provide additional details on the funding of operations," Mishra added, referring to Kingfisher's revival plan submitted to the DGCA last month.

But the airline said there is no "cause for concern" as the rules allow for the renewal of a permit within two years of expiry.kf

"Kingfisher is confident of securing approval from the regulator on the restart plan, licence approval and reinstatement of its operating permit," its spokesman Prakash Mirpuri said in a statement late Monday.

Kingfisher, controlled by liquor baron Vijay Mallya, owes millions of dollars to banks, airports, fuel suppliers and its staff and has been looking for a foreign investor to inject fresh funds.

The firm has been the worst-hit of India's airlines in 2012, with the industry plagued by high jet fuel prices, fierce competition, price wars and shabby airport infrastructure.

The carrier was India's second-largest until a year ago but its share shrank to just 3.5% — the smallest in the country —before operations stalled completely.

Kingfisher said it was in talks with foreign investors including Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways after the government cleared investment by foreign airlines in the key transport sector.

Aviation analysts have expressed doubt over Etihad's purported interest in Bangalore-based Kingfisher given the Indian firm's debt load, which is estimated at $2.5 billion by the consultancy firm Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation.

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News Network
May 26,2020

Kasaragod, May 26: Amid relaxation of COVID-19 lockdown norms, Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) and vocational higher secondary education (VHSE) examinations resumed in Kerala on Tuesday.

Schools in the state maintained social distancing norms and other precautionary measures amid the examination. Hand sanitisers were also provided at the centres while wearing face masks was made mandatory for all students.

Students at VHSS Manacaud High School in Thiruvananthapuram were encouraged to follow social distancing norms while they also underwent thermal screening before entering the examination centre.

In Kerala, VHSE and SSLC exams began today. While VHSE is scheduled in the morning, the SSLC exam is held in the afternoon session.

Senior secondary exams are scheduled to begin in the state from May 27.

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News Network
March 5,2020

Mumbai, Mar 5: Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal and few others have been booked by the ED in a money laundering case even as the agency is conducting searches at his premises, officials said on Thursday.

They said a criminal case against the former chairman of the airlines has been filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after taking cognisance of a recent Mumbai Police FIR filed against him.

The Enforcement Directorate carried out raids at Goyal's premises in Mumbai on Wednesday and also questioned him after filing the case, they said.

The action is continuing, they added.

The Mumbai Police FIR pertains to charges of alleged fraud by Goyal and others against a Mumbai-based travel company.

Goyal has earlier been grilled by the central probe agency in a case filed under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) in September last year.

The agency had carried out similar raids, under the FEMA, in August last year against Goyal, his family and others.

ED has alleged in the past that the businessman's empire had 19 privately-held companies, five of which were registered abroad.

The agency is probing charges that these firms allegedly carried out “doubtful” transactions under the guise of selling, distribution and operating expenses.

The ED suspects that expenses at these companies were allegedly booked at fake and high costs and as a result, they “projected” huge losses.

Alleged shady aircraft lease transactions with non-existent offshore entities are also under the ED scanner and it is suspected that Jet Airways made payments for lease rental to “ghost firms”, which purportedly routed the ill-gotten money in Goyal's companies.

A full-service carrier, Jet Airways shut its operations in April last year after running out of cash.

A month earlier, Goyal had stepped down as the chairman of Jet Airways.

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News Network
March 2,2020

New Delhi, Mar 2: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a curative petition filed by convict Pawan Kumar Gupta who was sentenced to death in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case.

A five-judge bench headed by Justice N V Ramana said that no case is made out for re-examining the conviction and the punishment of the convict.

Other members of the bench were justices Arun Mishra, R F Nariman, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan.

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