HC refuses to hear Vijay Mallya's plea against wilful defaulter tag

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: In a major setback to Vijay Mallya, Delhi High Court refused to hear plea by UBHL and him against wilful defaulter tag by SBI. As per sources, he may move Bombay High Court against the decision. He had argued before court that legal representation had not been allowed before declaring willful defaulter.

Top state-run lender State Bank of India (SBI) had sought arrest of Vijay Mallya, and also impounding of his passport, as the bank approached Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) seeking action against the UB Group promoter for defaulting on loans.

State Bank of India, which heads the consortium of 17 lenders to the grounded Kingfisher Airlines, had moved the Debt Recovery Tribunal in Bengaluru against the airline's chairman Mallya in its bid to recover over Rs 7,000-crore dud loans from him.

According to sources, SBI had moved four applications at the DRT in Bangalore, seeking impounding Mallya's passport, getting him arrested, securing the lenders' first right on the payout from Diageo and getting full disclosure of his assets in the country and abroad.

The immediate objective of the lenders moving the DRT was to secure a first right on the $75 million severance package that Mallya will be getting for quitting Diageo-owned United Spirits (USL) as its chairman last week.