An FIR was on Friday filed against liquor baron Vijay Mallya and his cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines on a criminal complaint by Bangalore International Airport Limited for non-payment of user development fees and passenger service fees to it.
The complaint refers to the non payment of user development fees (UDF) and passenger service fees. Though there were reports that the airline owes over `200 crore to the airport, BIAL sources said that the company did not want to comment on the figures.
In October 2012, a Hyderabad court had issued a non bailable warrant against Mallya for a bounced cheque worth Rs 10.3 crore issued to GMR International Airport; the company that operates the Hyderabad airport.
According to reports the airport authorities filed the complaint on a direction given by a magistrate court where BIA had filed a complaint on October 21, 2013. The complaint has been registered at the BIAL police station. Mallya and his carrier have over $2.5 billion of accumulated dues and losses. The company is also facing many charges at various courts for non-payment of dues to aircraft lessors, tax authorities as well as unpaid employees. The carrier was grounded after employees refused to carry out their duties as they had not been paid for close to seven months at the time. Employees await their salaries which has risen to 13 months now.
According to the police, BIAL has sought action against for dishonest misappropriation of property, criminal breach of trust, cheating and criminal conspiracy among other charges. The airline is expected to remit the the fees that is collected from their passengers, according to guidelines set by aviation regulators Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Airport authorities said that the airline had not remitted the money it collected from their domestic and international passengers during 2008-12.