Supreme Court Stays Order Of Bombay High Court Allowing Chairperson Of Ushdev International Ltd To Travel Abroad

The Supreme Court, upon an urgent mention made by the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, has stayed the order of the Bombay High Court which allowed Suman Vijay Gupta, Chairperson of Ushdev International Limited to travel abroad upon giving an undertaking, despite a lookout circular issued against her.

The Bench consisting of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha stayed the impugned order of the Bombay High Court and issued notice to the respondents returnable by April 24, 2023.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta mentioned the matter, upon which the Chief Justice allowed the request to list the matter immediately at the bottom of the board.

Tushar Mehta submitted that "the Bombay High Court's Division bench before whom the look-out circular issued under the office memorandum by the bureau of immigration was challenged, the bench allowed Suman Vijay Gupta to travel on an undertaking".

He further submitted "that we have a bad experience with travelling on undertaking" continuing to apprise the bench, he said, "she is a chairperson, promoter and guarantor of a company who took a loan of Rs. 30-thousand crores which have now become Rs. 37 thousand crores. The state bank of India declares the company as a non-performing asset and the CBI is looking into the case".

He further submitted that "as soon the SBI declared her NPA, she renounced the citizenship of India and took the citizenship of the Dominican Republic, a country with whom we have no extradition treaty on which a look-out circular was issued under the office memorandum and which came to challenge before the High Court."

The observation of the Bombay High Court in a detailed order was that: "we see no reason to prohibit the travel simply on the ground that the Petitioner is a foreign national and subject to these conditions: Petitioner is to file an undertaking to return to this country at the end of this period, if not already done; the Petitioner is to file a detailed itinerary with her contact details and addresses overseas, if not already done; The Petitioner must file an undertaking (if not already done) not to apply for renewal or extension of this order until he returns to this country. Subject to these conditions, the LOCs in question against the Petitioner are stayed until 11th April 2023. The immigration authorities at all ports of departure including all airports will permit the Petitioner passage and permit the Petitioner to take his flights out of the country irrespective of whether the State Bank of India have notified them or not and irrespective of whether this suspension is noted in the immigration authorities' systems or not".

The Solicitor General stated that "the woman had proposed to visit her son despite being any health issue or any other issue. The High Court allowed the challenge against the Government Memorandum and upon an undertaking allowed the petitioner to travel abroad. This order came to be impugned before the Supreme Court.

On considering the submissions made by the Solicitor General, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud in the order dictated that "heard the Solicitor General at the stage of mentioning for urgent listing, issue notice returnable by April 24th, 2023 meanwhile there will be a stay on the impugned order of the High Court".