Mallya made UBHL Principal Officer, monitoring operations from London

Embattled tycoon Vijay Mallya, who is in London avoiding court summons here, has been made Principal Officer of United Breweries (Holdings) Ltd (UBHL) in the absence of a Managing Director and is 'monitoring' the operations of the company from the UK.

Mallya, who is the Chairman of the company, is wanted in India in connection with loan default of over Rs 9,000 crore from various banks linked to the defunct Kingfisher Airlines, has been based in the UK since March this year.

"In the absence of a Managing Director, the Chairman of the Board, Vijay Mallya has been made the Principal Officer of the company and has been monitoring the performance of the company through appropriate delegation of duties to various operating executives, who report to him on a regular basis," UBHL said in a regulatory filing, reports PTI. The company has been without a Managing Director since the resignation of V Shashikanth in May 2014. It has appointed Chief Financial Officer, Ajay Kumar Kaushik, from April 20, 2016. According to information available on the BSE, as on quarter ended March 2016, the company had five directors out of which three are non-executive independent directors. Mallya and Dajlit Mahal are the non-executive non-independent directors. Kaushik Majumder, who is the Senior Vice-President Legal and Company Secretary, is the other key management team member listed on the BSE.

Meanwhile, beleaguered liquor baron Vijay Mallya said Kingfisher Airlines has turned out to be a 'nightmare' and blamed government's adverse taxation policies and higher fuel prices for the business failure. "The business (of Kingfisher Airlines) failed due to high fuel prices, due to adverse government policies by taxation and of course the failure of aviation engines," he in a video message.