In the contempt case against Mallya, the Supreme Court gave him one final opportunity to appear in person or through counsel in February.
In a contempt case where he has been found guilty, the Supreme Court is set to issue its ruling on the severity of Vijay Mallya’s sentence on July 11. Mallya is a wanted man accused of defaulting on bank loans totaling more than 9,000 crore rupees involving his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
A bench led by Justice U U Lalit would issue the order, according to the cause list from July 11 that was posted on the website of the Supreme Court.
Orders regarding the sentence were reserved by a bench made up of Justices Lalit, S. Ravindra Bhat, and PS. Narasimha on March 10.
The Supreme Court gave Mallya a final window of two weeks in February to personally appear or be represented by counsel in the contempt case brought against him; if he does not, the court will proceed to a logical conclusion.
The supreme court had agreed with the arguments of senior lawyer Jaideep Gupta and amicus curiae that Mallya should be given one final chance to present his case before the court regarding the severity of the sentence.
“According to Gupta, the case may be postponed for a short while with the warning that this is the last chance and that the court may continue with the case if he decides not to stay in person or make further arguments through counsel. Considering the submissions, we break for two weeks. Respondent Contemnor is free to follow the November 30, 2021 order’s instructions, failing which the matter will be brought to a logical conclusion and moved forward “In its ruling, the bench made a statement.
Tushar Mehta, the solicitor general, made it clear during the hearing that it was not the position of the Indian government that something private was going on in the case in the UK, but rather that the government had been informed by the UK that there was something going on that couldn’t be revealed.
The top court decided to move forward with the hearing on the severity of Mallya’s punishment in the contempt case against him in 2021 despite saying that it had waited “long enough” and couldn’t “wait longer now” for him to be extradited from the United Kingdom to India.
A document from the Deputy Secretary (Extradition) Ministry of External Affairs was earlier provided by the Solicitor General, who was representing the Ministry of External Affairs. According to the bench, although the extradition of Mallya from the UK to India has reached its conclusion, certain “confidential proceedings” are still ongoing in the UK, the specifics of which are unknown.
Mallya has reportedly used up all of his legal options in the UK, according to the Centre. The State Bank of India (SBI) and a group of other banks had petitioned the Supreme Court on May 9, 2017, alleging that he had transferred $40 million received from the British company Diageo to his children in “flagrant violation” of numerous court orders.
