The Bombay high court on Wednesday observed that a long-running dispute over the recovery of dues from Vijay Mallya needed to “be brought to an end” after being told by Mallya’s lawyer that his 2020 petition against asset seizures was now redundant due to developments over the last six years.
Mallya’s original 2020 petition challenged an order passed by a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court, which had allowed a consortium of lender banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) to utilise assets confiscated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to recover his unpaid dues.
On Wednesday, senior advocate Amit Desai, appearing for Mallya, told the court that the 2020 petition was filed when settlement talks were ongoing and sought protection for specific assets. However, Desai argued that the application no longer survives as most of the mentioned assets have already been attached and dealt with.
The bench appeared to agree. “Actually, this issue needs to be put to an end. The idea is to move on… otherwise the relations and the economy of the country suffer,” justice Jadhav said.
The court directed ED to file an affidavit clarifying whether the settlement process has concluded and if “everything is done and dusted,” while emphasising that this would not impact the criminal prosecution against Mallya, which must still be “taken to its logical end.”
The high court said it would decide on the further course of action after hearing from ED’s deputy director concerned.
Desai had argued that Mallya’s civil liabilities were over now. “Public sector banks keeping this matter pending is unfortunate,” Desai said, claiming that banks have already recovered around ₹15,000 crore from Mallya against the original claimed dues of ₹6,203.35 crore plus interest.
“The RBI audit itself says it’s an airline’s business failure and nothing else. Banks have taken away ₹15,000 crore and now they say sorry. That’s not good enough,” he added.
In February 2019, ED informed the special PMLA court that it had no objection to the SBI-led consortium liquidating Mallya’s confiscated assets to recover the debts. Mallya was declared a fugitive economic offender in January 2019.
Mallya has been facing multiple legal cases in India related to alleged loan defaults, fraud, money laundering and financial irregularities in connection with those loans. In July 2015, the Banking Securities & Fraud Cell of the Central Bureau of Investigation registered an FIR against him in connection with alleged irregularities in loans taken by Kingfisher Airlines from a consortium of banks led by IDBI Bank. He was charged with criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and criminal misconduct.
Mallya left India in March 2016 amid mounting legal pressure and has remained in the United Kingdom since then. He has been resisting extradition to India to face criminal charges. After the enactment of the FEO Act in 2018, proceedings were initiated against Mallya under the law, prompting him to file a petition in the high court. Although UK courts have approved his extradition to India, Mallya has utilised what has been termed a “confidential legal matter” to stay on in the UK. This is widely understood to mean an application for political asylum.
