The Bombay High Court on Tuesday asked fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya to clarify when he plans to return to India and made it clear that it would not hear his challenge to the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act unless he first submits to the court’s jurisdiction.
Mallya, who has been living in the United Kingdom since 2016, has approached the High Court with two petitions. One challenges the order declaring him a fugitive economic offender, while the other questions the constitutional validity of the 2018 Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.
A bench led by Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad raised the issue of Mallya’s return to India while hearing the petitions. The judges told his counsel, senior advocate Amit Desai, that the court would not examine the plea against the Act unless Mallya places himself under its authority.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Enforcement Directorate, opposed the petitions and argued that fugitives should not be allowed to question the validity of Indian laws without being subject to the country’s courts. He said the Act was enacted to prevent accused persons from misusing the legal system by remaining abroad while pursuing litigation through lawyers. Mehta also informed the court that extradition proceedings against Mallya were at an advanced stage.
The bench said it would not permit both petitions to proceed simultaneously and asked Mallya to specify which one he wished to pursue and which he intended to withdraw. In response, Desai told the court that Mallya’s financial liabilities had effectively been settled, with assets worth around Rs 14,000 crore attached and about Rs 6,000 crore recovered by banks.
While the Solicitor General acknowledged that Mallya was entitled to legal representation even while staying overseas, the bench questioned how criminal liability could be extinguished without the accused submitting to the court’s jurisdiction.
The High Court listed the matter for further hearing on February 12, directing Mallya to inform the court by then which petition he intends to pursue. Mallya was declared a fugitive economic offender in January 2019 by a special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. He is accused of defaulting on multiple loans and faces fraud and money laundering charges, after leaving India in March 2016.
