Accusing the Jet Airways for the supposed lapse in payment of installments with regard to the April 2007 takeover of the earlier Sahara Airlines - now JetLite - Sahara India has approached the Bombay High Court.

Out of the Rs. 1,450 crore acquisition deal for Sahara Airlines, Jet Airways had made an upfront payment of Rs. 900 crore, and had agreed to pay annual installments of Rs 137 crore in the course of the next four years beginning 2007.

Briefing about the situation, a Jet Airways spokesperson said that the I-T department has raised certain demands on Sahara India Airlines for the period preceding the acquisition, and are hence unrelated to the installments that had been worked out by the companies. However, Sahara deducted the mentioned amounts from the installments paid by JetLite.

The spokesperson also said that from JetLite's standpoint, the liability has to be borne by Sahara as the arrangement for the liability of payment in contention had not been made by it.

The Jet spokesperson said: "Sahara India has not accepted this position - I-T liability prior to the takeover is to be borne by Sahara - and moved the Bombay High Court for appropriate relief. Since the matter is sub-judice, we do not want to comment on the merit of the case."