The Bombay High Court has refused to hear fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya’s challenge to the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018, unless he returns to India and submits to the court’s jurisdiction.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad made it clear that Mallya could not seek discretionary relief from Indian courts while continuing to stay in the United Kingdom.
The court told Mallya that unless he comes back to India, his plea cannot be heard.
The bench was hearing petitions filed by Mallya challenging both the constitutional validity of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act and the proceedings under which he was declared a fugitive economic offender. The court noted that despite a December 23 order directing him to file an affidavit stating when he intended to return to India, no clear undertaking had been submitted.
The judges observed that Mallya was avoiding the process of law in India and the United Kingdom and therefore could not take advantage of proceedings before Indian courts. However, the bench said it was not dismissing the petition at this stage and was giving him another opportunity, while adjourning the matter to February 18.
Appearing for the Enforcement Directorate, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that Mallya had challenged the law only after being declared a fugitive economic offender, at a time when extradition proceedings against him in London were nearing completion. Senior advocate Amit Desai, representing Mallya, argued that such petitions could be heard without the petitioner’s physical presence.
Mallya, who left India in March 2016, was declared a fugitive economic offender in January 2019 and faces allegations of fraud and money laundering linked to loans of over Rs 9,000 crore taken by Kingfisher Airlines from a consortium of banks.