The Supreme Court has reserved its order on sentence in a contempt of court case against liquor baron Vijay Mallya in which he was found guilty for disobeying the Court’s orders in not disclosing full particulars of assets in a case between the SBI & Kingfisher Airlines.
A Division Bench of Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, Justice S. Ravindra Bhat and Justice P.S Narasimha granted two-days’ time to senior advocate and amicus curiae Jaideep Gupta to file his written submission.
The Centre’s counsel Rajat Nair has submitted that Vijay Malya has wilfully and intentionally abandoned the proceedings. His conduct has agravated the contempt and therefore maximum sentence should be awarded. He deliberately absconded from the proceeding to obstruct the administration of justice and to ensure that due to his non-participation, the contempt order dosent reach to its logical conclusion.
Mallya is an accused in a bank loan default case of over Rs 9,000 crore involving his now defunct Kingfisher Airlines, has been in the UK since March 2016. He is on bail on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard in April 2017. The Court has previously found him guilty of contempt of court for or transferring $40 million to his children in violations of the court orders.
Yesterday, senior advocate and amicus curiae Jaideep Gupta sought adjournment on grounds that he would be busy arguing another case.
Previously, the court had granted time to Mallya, for appear before it personally or through counsel. The Apex Court had further added “If Mallya fails to do so, the court will take the case to a logical conclusion.”