The Bombay High Court has termed former liquor baron Vijay Mallya as the ‘first cause’ and the reason why Look Out Circulars (LOCs) were issued against many borrowers in the country.
The Division Bench of Justice Kalpathi Shriram and Justice Jitendra Jain made the observation on Friday, while hearing a petition filed by Mallya challenging the constitutional validity of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018.
Mallya’s plea further challenged the January 5, 2019, order of a special court in Mumbai, which declared the liquor baron a ‘fugitive economic offender.’
Advocate Ravi Gandhi, representing Mallya, urged the High Court to adjourn the matter for a few weeks so that he could take ‘appropriate instructions’ from his client.
The counsel apprised the Division Bench that the petition was filed in April 2019 and ‘much water has flown’ since then.
He contended that there have been attachments and selling of properties, apart from a dispute between the authorities and Mallya, since the filing of the plea.
The Division Bench responded in a lighter vein that between all this, Mallya was enjoying himself.
The High Court adjourned the matter for a week, for Gandhi to obtain ‘instructions’. The Division Bench made it clear that if Gandhi failed to obtain any instructions, it would proceed to dismiss the plea.