SC reserves orders in Vijay Mallya’s plea against judgment holding him guilty of contempt of court

The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its order in a petition filed by Vijay Mallya seeking review of the May 2017 judgment that held him guilty of contempt of court, legal news website BarandBench.com has reported.

The Bench of Justices UU Lalit and Ashok Bhushan took up the review petition filed by Mallya for hearing today. The matter had to be adjourned previously since a crucial reply filed by Mallya could not be located in the case records with the Court.

Mallya is an accused in a bank loan default case of over ₹ 9,000 crore involving the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines. The plea in the apex court was filed by a consortium of banks.

On May 9, 2017, the Supreme Court had directed the liquor baron to appear before it on July 10, after finding him guilty of contempt of court in a bank loan default case. Soon after this order, Mallya had filed a review petition in the Supreme Court.

When the matter was heard earlier, the banks had alleged that Mallya concealed facts and diverted the money to his son Siddharth Mallya and daughters Leanna and Tanya Mallya in “flagrant violation” of the orders passed by the Karnataka High Court.

On June 19, the Court sought an explanation from its own Registry as to why the review petition filed by Mallya was not listed for the last three years.

The Bench of Justices Lalit and Bhushan had noted in the last hearing that the review was filed within the period of limitation, but was still not listed for three years.

It thus called for an explanation from the Supreme Court Registry as to why the case was not listed during this time. It has also asked for the names of the officers involved in the process.