New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday sought a status report from the Centre on the extradition of fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya within six weeks.
The apex court bench headed by Justice UU Lalit was informed by the Centre that some legal proceedings are still pending in the United Kingdom which is delaying the extradition.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, told the apex court that Mallya is not cooperating with the lawyer which will further aggravate the problem.
The bench posted the contempt case against him for further hearing in January 2021.
In the earlier hearing, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had told the top court that extradition of Mallya was ordered by the highest court of the United Kingdom but it has not been put into effect.
The Centre had said it is not aware of the “secret’ ongoing proceedings in the UK which are delaying Mallya’s extradition.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the Ministry had said that government is neither aware of the nature of the proceedings nor is a party to it in the UK Supreme Court which had cleared the extradition of Mallya to India.
The Supreme Court had directed for Mallya’s presence before it after dismissing his review petition against his contempt conviction.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had dismissed a plea filed by Mallya seeking a review of its May 2017 order holding him guilty of contempt for transferring USD 40 million to his children in violation of the court’s order, and sought his presence before it on October 5.
The court had also asked Mallya to be present in person on October 5 at 2 pm and directed MHA to ensure his presence in the courtroom on that day.
Mallya is an accused in a bank loan default case of over Rs 9,000 crore involving his defunct Kingfisher Airlines and is presently in the United Kingdom.
The Supreme Court had issued its May 9, 2017, order on a plea by a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI), claiming he had allegedly transferred USD 40 million received from British firm Diageo to his children in “flagrant violation” of various judicial orders.
Earlier, the apex court had asked Mallya about the “truthfulness” of his disclosure of assets and the transfer of money to his children.
At that time, the top court was dealing with pleas of lending banks seeking contempt action and a direction to Mallya to deposit USD 40 million received from offshore firm Diageo to the banks respectively.
The banks had then accused Mallya of concealing the facts and diverted the money to his son Siddharth Mallya and daughters Leanna Mallya and Tanya Mallya in flagrant violation of the orders passed by the Karnataka High Court.