Vijay Mallya told the Bombay High Court on Wednesday that he can’t say when he’ll return to India, thanks to legal restrictions he faces in the UK.
Through his lawyer, he explained that courts in England and Wales have barred him from leaving the country, travelling abroad, or even holding a valid travel document. Because of these orders, he said there’s just no way he can give a date for coming back to India.
Vijay Mallya Says UK Legal Bar Stops Him From Coming Back to India
Representing Mallya, senior advocate Amit Desai asked the court to go ahead and hear the two petitions separately, even if Mallya himself can’t show up in person.
Desai pointed to Supreme Court rulings where constitutional courts have decided writ petitions without the petitioner being physically present.
This all comes days after the High Court made it clear: it won’t consider Mallya’s plea against the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act unless he comes back to India and submits to its authority. The court told him to spell out whether he plans to return if he wants any relief.
Can Vijay Mallya Return? Court Questions His Stand on UK Restrictions
Mallya’s lawyer argued again that the UK court orders stop him from leaving, so he simply can’t commit to any timeline for coming back to India.
But the judges pushed back. They wanted to know if Mallya had ever challenged those UK court restrictions or asked for permission to travel.
They told Desai to file a detailed affidavit explaining exactly what the British courts have ordered, whether Mallya has tried to fight those orders, and where he really stands on returning. The court gave him three weeks to file this affidavit and pushed the case to March 11.
Bombay High Court Sets New Deadline
The Bombay High Court has stressed more than once that someone declared a fugitive can’t ask for relief from the courts while staying outside the reach of Indian law.
The judges said Mallya can’t dodge court proceedings and at the same time challenge them from a distance.
That’s why the court insists Mallya must come back to India, or at least give a clear promise to do so, before it’ll hear his challenge to the 2018 law.
Right now, Mallya’s petition asks the Bombay High Court to rule on the constitutional validity of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act and the process that labelled him a fugitive.
Back in January 2019, a special Mumbai court officially declared him a “fugitive economic offender.” That let authorities seize his properties under the new law.
In Mallya’s case, authorities have already attached assets worth thousands of crores as they try to recover unpaid bank loans.
