Fugitive ex-tycoon Vijay Mallya has been handed a lifeline by a court in London which deferred hearings on a plea by a consortium of Indian banks which asked that he be declared bankrupt to enable them to recover a loan of around Rs 11,000 crores from him.
Chief Insolvency and Company Court Judge Michael Briggs , of the insolvency division of the High Court granted relief to Vijay Mallya, saying he found the bankruptcy petition by the consortium of Indian bank led by SBI “extraordinary”.
“This bankruptcy petition is by any measure extraordinary. The banks are pressing for a bankruptcy order at a time when there are extant proceedings in India” he said. “In my judgment the banks are secured, at least in part… The hearing of the petition should be adjourned for the purpose of amendment and for time to pay the debts in full,” the judgement read. He said, that Mallya be given time till his petitions to the Supreme Court of India and his settlement proposal before the Karnataka High Court are determined, allowing him time to repay his debts to the banks in full.
Chief Insolvency and Company Court Judge Briggs, in his verdict delivered Thursday, said there is no obvious advantage to the banks to pursue this class action at this point in time.
In his judgment, the judge concluded that the legal cases being pursued by Mallya in India stood a reasonable prospect of success.
“Although the petition to the Supreme Court and proposal before the Karnataka High Court are not guaranteed to succeed, they are genuine. The evidence supports the view that the petitions stand a reasonable prospect of success,” he said.
Mallya is simultaneously fighting a battle against his extradition to India. In December 2018, the Westminster Magistrates Court approved Mallya’s extradition after going through the evidence furnished by the enforcement agencies and the submissions made by him. In April 2019, a High Court turned down the businessman’s plea for leave to appeal against the order. However, in July last, it found merit and allowed the application.
Lead Picture : UNI