New Delhi, Nov 30: The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned the order on quantum of sentence against Kingfisher liquor baron and fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya to January 18, in connection with the case in which he was held guilty of contempt of court by this court in 2017.
A three-Judge bench of the Apex Court, headed by Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, said, “We will listen the matter finally on January 18, 2022.”
The top court of the country said that through their order of 2017, Vijay Mallya (respondent nunber 3) in the Special Leave Petition (SLP) was found guilty of contempt of court.
“However, because of certain proceedings, which at relevant time are going on in courts of law in the United Kingdom (UK), so the presence of Respondent 3 (Vijay Mallya), couldn’t be secured despite this court’s directions,” observed the Court.
It said that in its order on November 2, 2020, this court noted that certain proceedings were going on in the UK and the details of which were not forthcoming. Submissions made by Advocate EC Aggrawal seeking discharge were rejected and it was directed that he would continue to appear for Vijay Mallya.
“We request Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta to assist the Court as Amicus Curiae (Friend of the Court) in the matter, and fixed the case for further hearing to January 18.
“We will list this matter in second week of January, that is January 18, and at that juncture, if this person (Mallya) wants to take part personally, he will be here through extradition proceedings. If he isn’t, his lawyer will be here to argue the case,” Justice Lalit said.
India is trying to extradite Mallya from the United Kingdom, where he is currently staying. The founder of now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines was convicted by SC in 2017 for failing to disclose the transfer of 40 million USD to his children’s accounts.
The Court had in August last year dismissed his review petition in the case.
The Bench said that since Mallya’s lawyer appears in each hearing, they will continue with the arguments on the point of quantum of sentence against the fugitive businessman, even though the convict is currently not present in the Court.
Mallya was an accused in a bank loan default case of over Rs 9,000 crore. The Court’s 2017 order had come on a plea by a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI), which had said that Mallya had allegedly transferred USD 40 million received from British firm Diageo, to his children in “flagrant violation” of various judicial orders.
