Vijay Mallya directed to prove bona fides by Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of India has asked Rajya Sabha MP and liquor baron Vijay Mallya to prove his bona fides by depositing money with the Supreme Court. The order was passed by a Bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and Rohinton Fali Nariman in the petition filed by a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India..Senior Advocate Shyam Divan appeared for the consortium while Senior Advocate CS Vaidyanathan appeared for Mallya and Kingfisher. Senior Advocate Parag Tripathi appeared for United Breweries..When the hearing began Shyam Divan informed the court that the consortium has rejected the repayment proposal put forth by Mallya. The proposal which was made during the last hearing, included payment of 4,000 crore by September this year and assignment to the banks of certain credits due to Kingfisher..Divan further said that subsequent to the rejection of that proposal, a second proposal was made by Kingfisher which was also rejected..Divan then submitted that for a negotiated settlement to take shape, Mallya should disclose details of all his properties and should be present in-person in court. Divan also submitted that repayment based on contingences..“Full and fair disclosure is needed. Repayment cannot be based on contingencies like ‘I get money from X and then pay you’”, said Divan..Senior Advocate CS Vaidyanathan submitted that Mallya is ready to disclose details about his assets. Regarding his presence in-person, Vaidyanathan said that he will respond to the same in his response..The Court then proceeded to pass an order directing Mallya to file his response to the main petition by April 21. Mallya has been asked to indicate in his response about the amount of money he is willing to deposit with the Supreme Court to prove his bona fides. He has also been directed to disclose details of his assets and assets belonging to his wife and children. Further, Mallya has also been asked to respond to the request for his presence in-person in court..The Consortium of banks will have to file their rejoinder to Mallya’s response by April 25. The case has now been listed for April 26. Meanwhile, the Bench also agreed to implead another consortium of banks led by Oriental Bank of Commerce..Mallya had left the country before the Supreme Court took up the plea for freezing his passport. He is currently in United Kingdom..Image taken from here.