The Supreme Court will take up on Friday fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya’s plea challenging the confiscation of the properties belonging to the companies owned by him and his family members.
A bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, took note of the submission of F.S. Nariman, appearing for Mallya, that a fresh plea be heard along with a pending one on the legality of the law and the action to confiscate the properties.
The senior lawyer had sought the adjournment of hearing on the petition questioning the confiscation of properties. The bench has now posted the matter for hearing this Friday.
Mallya, who is already battling extradition in the UK, had approached the apex court on June 27 seeking a stay on the confiscation of properties owned by him and his relatives. In the petition, Mallya has said no other properties other than that of Kingfisher Airlines, facing cases of alleged irregularities, should be attached. On July 11, the Bombay high court had refused to grant a stay on the proceedings before a special court on the confiscation of Mallya’s properties.
The division bench of the court had dismissed an application filed by Mallya last month that sought a stay on the proceedings before the special court hearing cases pertaining to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
On January 5 this year, the special PMLA court declared Mallya a fugitive economic offender.
The court then started the proceedings for the confiscation of his properties to recover dues of Rs 9,000 crore owed by him to a consortium of banks led by the SBI.
The confiscation against Mallya had been initiated by the Enforcement Directorate under Section 4 of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act. The Act, brought in last year, enables authorities to confiscate properties of those who flee the country after defaulting on loans worth Rs 100 crore and above.
Incidentally, on July 14, 2017, another bench of the apex court had deferred contempt proceedings against Mallya, saying he cannot be convicted in “absentia” after the Centre told the court that extradition proceedings are underway to bring him back to the country.
