Bombay High Court urges resolution in Vijay Mallya debt case amid asset dispute

The Bombay High Court has called for a conclusion to the prolonged dispute over Vijay Mallya’s bank debts, pressing authorities for an update on attached assets as the case threatens economic stability and international extradition efforts.

The Bombay High Court has indicated that the long-running dispute over Vijay Mallya’s bank debts must be brought to a close, as it pressed the Enforcement Directorate for an update on the attached assets tied to the case. Justice Milind Jadhav, hearing Mallya’s plea, said the continuing stand-off between the businessman and the lending consortium risked harming the wider economy if it remained unresolved.

Mallya, who left India in March 2016, is wanted over loans of about Rs 9,000 crore extended to the former Kingfisher Airlines by a group of banks led by State Bank of India. He was declared a fugitive economic offender in 2019, a status that allows authorities to attach and recover assets even before a criminal case reaches trial. The present petition stems from his challenge to a special court order that allowed the banks to use properties attached by the Enforcement Directorate. The court has now asked the agency to set out the current status of the investigation and the seized assets, as Mallya continues to argue that the transfer of property to the banks was unjustified.

In earlier hearings this year, another bench of the high court told Mallya it would not entertain his challenge to the fugitive economic offender designation unless he returned to India and submitted to its jurisdiction. When his lawyers said he could not yet give a date for his return because of restrictions from courts in England, they urged the judges to hear his petitions separately in his absence. India has meanwhile continued to seek his extradition from the United Kingdom.