Banks ask SC to keep Mallya in India
NEW DELHI: Worried about the fate of their loans worth thousands of crores given to the nowdefunct Kingfisher Airlines, a consortium of banks moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking to restrain industrialist Vijay Mallya from leaving India.
Attor ney general Mukul Rohatgi sought an urgent hearing of the petition filed by 13 banks, including State Bank of India (SBI), which also sought impounding of Mallya’s pass- port. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur agreed to hear it on Wednesday.
The banks’ move came a day after the Enforcement Directorate registered a moneylaundering case against Mallya and a debt recovery tribunal (DRT) barred him from touching the ` 515 crore he got from selling a liquor company till the matter was decided. The DRT will hear the matter again on March 28.
The ED case is based on a CBI probe into alleged “wilful default” by the high-flying promoter of Kingfisher Airlines on a ` 900-crore loan in conspiracy with IDBI Bank representatives.
SBI, the largest lender to Kingfisher, had approached the DRT in Bangalore to restrain Mallya from withdrawing the ` 515 crore he got as a severance package from the Londonbased Diageo.
Mallya had quit the chairmanship of Indian company United Spirits Ltd last month.
Banks owed money by King fisher Airlines have demanded “first right” to the Diageo cash.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the Centre was “justified” in not registering armed forces personnel as general voters in northeast states and Jammu and Kashmir as it “may result in change of demographic character” of the area affecting the local populace and electoral profile.
Army personnel posted at forward and disturbed areas are not given voting enrolment facilities at their place of posting. However, those posted at peace stations can avail of these facilities, following a Supreme Court order in 2014.
“There are some areas where the Ar med Forces (Special Powers) Act is in force. There is a simmering tension between the forces and the local population, and therefore giving them such a facility could lead to exacerbating tension,” said the Centre.