The petition, filed in Bengaluru’s civil court, questions the “maintainability” of a Deloitte forensic report – on the basis of which the civil suit was initiated – without the permission of the company tribunal, as required under the Companies Act, the Business Standard reported.
The petition follows allegations that AirAsia India had tried to bribe officials to get aviation regulations relaxed so that it could fly overseas.
AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes has been called to appear for questioning before India’s Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI). He was summoned to appear on June 6 but did not show up.
On Tuesday, AirAsia Group said neither the company nor Fernandes “in his personal capacity” had received the notice from CBI. The CBI subsequently said it would issue a fresh summons to Fernandes.
It is alleged that Chandilya was involved in fraudulent transactions of Rs 220 million (RM13 million) during his tenure, based on the audit report. He served for three years after joining as CEO on May 1, 2013.
“Our plea for rejecting the suit for recovery of the money has been admitted and AirAsia India has been asked to respond by June 27,” the report quoted Chandilya’s lawyer, Srinivas Mohanty, as saying.
Mohanty claimed these transactions were made on the instructions of Fernandes.
The Business Standard report said AirAsia India declined to comment as the matter was sub judice. It said a query sent to Deloitte did not elicit any response.
The Economic Times earlier reported that Mohanty had alleged that Chandilya was falsely implicated in the audit report at the behest of Fernandes.
This, Mohanty told the Economic Times, occurred after Chandilya refused to do the “dirty work” of lobbying on behalf of AirAsia to get the then-“5/20” civil aviation rule modified or amended.
The rule stipulates that Indian carriers cannot fly overseas unless they have five years of operations and 20 planes.
AirAsia rejected this allegation, saying: “AirAsia India Ltd has filed a criminal complaint against its former CEO, Mittu Chandilya. The matter is presently being investigated.”