SC issues notice to Vijay Mallya on banks’ plea to summon him to court

The Supreme Court issued a notice to Vijay Mallya on the basis of banks’ plea to summon him to court and deposit his passport while loan recovery procedures are on.

The top court has posted the next hearing for March 30 as the Attorney General told the court that banks are not after Vijay Mallya’s blood. The court wants to discuss the modalities of loan recovery as well.

The Attorney General further informed the court that Mallya has left the country citing CBI inputs.

A SBI-led consortium of 17 banks had moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday to restrain Mallya from flying abroad because they feared that the founder-owner of Kingfisher Airlines may settle in London to stall loan recovery proceedings against him in India.

The banks contended that the Debts Recovery Tribunal (DRT) should have issued an arrest warrant against Mallya in order to compel him to truthfully disclose all his assets. On Monday, a DRT judge in Bengaluru had restrained multinational alcoholic beverages company, Diageo Plc, from paying Mallya Rs 515 crore as part of a settlement to exit United Spirits Limited.

Rohatgi said Mallya owed more than Rs 9,000 crore to these 17 banks and had also been declared a “wilful defaulter”.