Contempt Case Against Vijay Mallya Will Be Finally Heard On January 18: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court today said that the contempt case against Vijay Mallya, who is accused in the bank loan default case of over Rs 9,000 crore involving his defunct Kingfisher Airlines, will be dealt with finally on January 18 next year.

Observing that the Court has waited sufficiently long, a Bench of Justice U U Lalit, Justice S R Bhat and Justice Bela M Trivedi said, "We can't be waiting any longer now".

Vijay Mallya was held guilty of contempt in 2017.

The Bench said that Mallya is at liberty to advance submissions, as are deemed appropriate, and if for any reason, he is not present before the court, lawyer on his behalf can advance submissions.

What we wish to do is, we will list this matter for disposal in the second week of January because we have waited sufficiently long enough, we can't be waiting any longer now. It has to see the light of the day at some stage or the other and the process must also get over, the Bench said.

The Court requested Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta to assist it as an amicus curiae in the matter.

The Apex Court had earlier dismissed Mallya's plea seeking review of its 2017 verdict which held him guilty of contempt for transferring USD 40 million to his children in violations of the Court's orders.

On January 18 this year, the Centre told the Court that the government is making all efforts to extradite Mallya from the United Kingdom but the process is being delayed due to some legal issues involved in the matter.

Mallya, an accused in bank loan default case of over Rs 9,000 crore involving his defunct Kingfisher Airlines, is in the UK since March 2016. He is on bail on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard on April 18, 2017.

With PTI inputs