Vijay Mallya Tells Bombay High Court UK Court Orders Prevent His Return to India

Mumbai, Feb 2026 : UK-based businessman Vijay Mallya on Wednesday informed the Bombay High Court that he is unable to indicate any timeline for his return to India, citing restrictions imposed by courts in England that, according to him, prevent him from leaving the country.

The submission was made during a hearing before a Bench comprising Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad, which was considering two petitions filed by Mallya. One petition challenges his designation as a Fugitive Economic Offender under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA), while the second contests a trial court order that formally declared him a fugitive.

Senior advocate Amit Desai, appearing on behalf of Mallya, argued that Indian courts, including the Supreme Court, have in the past heard writ petitions even when petitioners were not physically present. He submitted that extradition proceedings against Mallya are currently ongoing in the United Kingdom and that his client is fully aware of the process but remains bound by directions of English courts that restrict his travel outside their jurisdiction.

Desai maintained that Mallya’s inability to return to India was not deliberate but the result of binding judicial orders passed abroad. He urged the court to consider the petitions on merit without insisting on Mallya’s personal presence, especially given the advanced stage of extradition proceedings.

The Bench, however, expressed reservations over this argument. The Chief Justice questioned whether Mallya had made any attempt to challenge the restrictions imposed by English courts and observed that merely relying on those orders could not automatically justify his continued absence. The court indicated that it was necessary to examine whether the foreign court orders were being used as a blanket shield to avoid appearing before Indian judicial authorities.

During the hearing, the Bench directed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to file a detailed response to Mallya’s affidavit. It also instructed Desai to submit a comprehensive affidavit placing on record all submissions made during the hearing, so that the Union of India could respond to them in detail.

Granting three weeks’ time for the next stage of proceedings, the court noted that the petitions have been pending since 2019 and observed that there appeared to have been no earnest effort to ensure their early disposal. The Bench emphasised the need to move the matter forward without further delay and scheduled the next hearing for March 11.

According to the Finance Ministry, Mallya, the former promoter of Kingfisher Airlines, is among 15 individuals who had been declared Fugitive Economic Offenders as of October 31, 2025. Authorities allege that these individuals collectively caused losses amounting to thousands of crores of rupees to Indian banks.

Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had submitted before the court that Mallya was attempting to convert money laundering proceedings into recovery litigation by disputing banks’ claims through affidavits. The agency also argued that Mallya chose to challenge his FEO declaration only after being formally declared a fugitive and at a time when extradition proceedings against him in London had reached an advanced stage.

With both sides directed to place detailed affidavits on record, the High Court is expected to closely examine the maintainability and merits of Mallya’s petitions in the upcoming hearing.

(The content of this article is sourced from a news agency and has not been edited by the Mavericknews30 team.)