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    Supreme Court asks Karnataka HC to finish Vijay Mallya's plea hearings in 6 months

    Synopsis

    UBHL and Mallya had appealed against the order to a division bench of the court. They had also sought a stay on the liquidation of assets till a final adjudication on the issue. The matter has been pending before the High Court.

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    Mallya has also appealed against parallel proceedings initiated against him in a Bombay court, seeking to have him declared a proclaimed offender under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Karnataka High Court to wrap up hearing, preferably within six months, appeals filed by United Breweries Holdings Ltd (UBHL) and Vijay Mallya, the former chairman of the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines, against the lower court’s order directing UBHL to be wound up to pay off Kingfisher’s dues.

    UBHL was the guarantor of loans to Kingfisher.

    In February 2017, the Karnataka High Court ordered that UBHL should be wound up and its assets used to pay off Kingfisher’s debts.

    UBHL and Mallya had appealed against the order to a division bench of the court. They had also sought a stay on the liquidation of assets till a final adjudication on the issue. The matter has been pending before the High Court.

    Mallya, through senior advocate Fali S. Nariman, who came back to court after a long hiatus, pleaded with the top court on Friday for a quick hearing. “The appeals have been pending for long,” he said.

    A three-judge bench, led by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, then asked the High Court to quickly dispose of the appeals.

    The high court is also expected to take a call on other applications filed by Mallya calling for a judicial committee to oversee sale of assets estimated at over Rs 13,000 crore, to pay off his dues to Indian banks. He owes over Rs 9,000 crore to nationalised banks, of which only Rs 2,000 crore has been recovered so far.

    Mallya, who fled to London, has denied any criminal intent not to pay off Kingfisher’s dues, arguing that it was a pure commercial failure.

    The government has filed for his extradition as a “proclaimed offender” and the banks led by SBI have initiated bankruptcy proceedings against him in a London court.

    Mallya has opposed both these proceedings. While he has lost the first round of extradition proceedings and has appealed, the bankruptcy court has since wrapped up hearing but has yet to deliver a verdict.

    Mallya has also appealed against parallel proceedings initiated against him in a Bombay court, seeking to have him declared a proclaimed offender under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.


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