Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: July 10, 2022 at 15:11 IST
On July 11, the Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce its order regarding the quantum of Vijay Mallya’s sentence in a contempt case in which he has been found guilty. Mallya is a fugitive man accused of defaulting on a bank loan in an amount over Rs 9,000 crore involving his defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
The order would be issued by a Bench led by Justice U U Lalit, according to the cause list from July 11 that was posted on the website of the Apex Court.
The Bench, which also included Justices S Ravindra Bhat and P S Narasimha, had reserved its order in the case on March 10 and stated that the proceedings into Mallya had hit a “dead wall.”
The Supreme Court allowed the advocate who had previously been representing Mallya to submit any written submissions by March 15 after hearing from senior advocate and amicus curiae Jaideep Gupta on a various aspects relating to the contempt law.
Mallya’s counsel had previously informed the Bench on March 10 that he was handicapped in the absence of any instructions from the client because his client, who is in the United Kingdom, and won’t be able to argue on the quantum of sentence to be given in the contempt case.
The apex court set the contempt case against Mallya for hearing on February 10 and gave him the final oppurtunity to appear before it either personally or through his lawyer, noting that it had “waited sufficiently long.”
The Supreme Court said that it had provided Mallya with multiple opportunities to appear in person or through counsel and had even provided precise directions in its order from November 30, 2021. After being found guilty of contempt in 2017, Mallya’s case was listed for hearings on the proposed punishment to be awarded to him
The apex court dismissed Mallya’s plea of the 2017 verdict finding him guilty of contempt for transferring USD 40 million to his children in violation of court orders in 2020.
The Supreme Court noted , in accordance with an office letter signed by the deputy secretary (extradition) of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the extradition procedures had reached their finality and that Mallya had “exhausted all avenues for appeal” in the UK.
Mallya is currently in UK and out on an extradition warrant executed by the Scotland Yard.