‘Time to move on’: Bombay high court seeks ED view on Vijay Mallya’s 2020 plea

The Bombay high court has stated that a prolonged dispute over Mallya's unpaid dues should be brought to a conclusion after hearing that Mallya's 2020 petition against asset seizures by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was now redundant due to developments in the past six years. In 2020, Mallya's lawyer had filed a petition challenging an order by a special PMLA court that allowed a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) to use the seized assets to recover the unpaid dues.

However, the lawyer argued that the petition was no longer valid as most of the mentioned assets had been attached and dealt with. The court agreed that the issue needed to be resolved and that the relations and economy of the country would suffer if the matter was not put to an end. The court directed the ED to file an affidavit clarifying if the settlement process has concluded and if everything is done and dusted, without affecting the criminal prosecution against Mallya, which must still be taken to its logical end.