India & UK: Vijay Mallya seeks to overturn Rs 10000 crore HC judgment

Economic offender Vijay Mallya has filed an appeal notice in the Court of Appeal here seeking to overturn a Rs 9,853-crore UK high court judgment against him, the Times of India reported on June 1.

On May 29, the 62-year-old lodged an application seeking permission to appeal the high court decision one day before the midnight on May 30 deadline, staff at the Court of Appeal confirmed to TOI on May 31. His appeal is being dealt with at the registry and is yet to be assigned a case number.

Mallya has filed both a notice of appeal and a skeleton argument in support of his application for permission to appeal, TOI has been told. The former liquor baron is seeking to appeal the registration of the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT), Karnataka judgment dated January 19, 2017, with the English courts under the Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act of 1933, which states he owes Rs 9,853 crore, including interest, to 13 Indian banks as of November 22, 2017. The banks are seeking to recover sums lent to Kingfisher, which Mallya guaranteed, valued at Rs 10,261 crore today.

Mallya had already tried to set that registration aside at a UK HC hearing in April but HC judge Andrew Henshaw QC ruled in the banks’ favour, making it the first recorded case of a DRT judgment being registered in English courts. At the same hearing, Mallya, ex-chairman of United Breweries, also lost an application to discharge an associated worldwide freeze order preventing the disposal of his global assets of Rs 10,261 crore.

A Court of Appeal judge will decide whether to grant him permission to appeal the HC ruling. That decision may be made on paper or there could be a public hearing. The decision is likely to take four to six weeks.

Permission to appeal will be granted if the Court of Appeal considers his appeal would have a real prospect of success or there is some other compelling reason for the appeal to be heard.

01 June, 2018