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The Bombay High Court on Wednesday said the long-running dispute over the recovery of dues from Vijay Mallya needs to “be brought to an end” after his lawyer told the court that a 2020 petition challenging the seizure of his assets had become redundant in light of developments over the past six years.

Mallya’s original petition challenged an order of a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court allowing a consortium of lender banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) to use assets confiscated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to recover his unpaid dues.

Mallya Says 2020 Petition No Longer Survives

Senior advocate Amit Desai, appearing for Mallya, told the court that the petition was filed in 2020 when settlement discussions were underway and sought protection for certain assets.

However, Desai said the petition no longer survived as most of the assets referred to in it had already been attached and dealt with.

The bench appeared to agree with the submission. Justice Jadhav observed, “Actually, this issue needs to be put to an end. The idea is to move on… otherwise the relations and the economy of the country suffer.”

The court directed the ED to file an affidavit clarifying whether the settlement process had concluded and whether “everything is done and dusted”.

The court, however, made it clear that this would have no bearing on the criminal prosecution against Mallya, which must still be “taken to its logical end.”

The high court said it would determine the further course of action after hearing the concerned ED deputy director.

Mallya Claims Banks Recovered Rs 15,000 Crore

Desai argued that Mallya's civil liabilities had now been settled. He said it was unfortunate that public sector banks were keeping the matter pending.

According to Desai, banks had already recovered around Rs 15,000 crore from Mallya against the original claimed dues of Rs 6,203.35 crore plus interest.

“Public sector banks keeping this matter pending is unfortunate,” Desai said.

“The RBI audit itself says it’s an airline’s business failure and nothing else. Banks have taken away Rs 15,000 crore and now they say sorry. That’s not good enough,” he added.

ED Had Cleared Way For Asset Liquidation

In February 2019, the ED told the special PMLA court that it had no objection to the SBI-led consortium liquidating Mallya's confiscated assets to recover the outstanding debts.

Mallya had been declared a fugitive economic offender in January 2019.

Mallya Faces Multiple Cases, Extradition Proceedings

Mallya is facing multiple legal cases in India relating to alleged loan defaults, fraud, money laundering and financial irregularities linked to those loans.

In July 2015, the Banking Securities & Fraud Cell of the Central Bureau of Investigation registered an FIR against him over alleged irregularities in loans taken by Kingfisher Airlines from a consortium of banks led by IDBI Bank. He was charged with criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and criminal misconduct.

Mallya left India in March 2016 amid mounting legal pressure and has remained in the United Kingdom since then. He has been contesting his extradition to India to face the criminal charges.

Following the enactment of the FEO Act in 2018, proceedings were initiated against Mallya under the law, prompting him to approach the high court.

Although UK courts have approved his extradition to India, Mallya has continued to remain in the UK by pursuing what has been described as a “confidential legal matter”. This is widely understood to refer to an application for political asylum.