MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Wednesday remarked that it was time for a long-pending dispute about recovery from Vijay Mallya, founder of the erstwhile Kingfisher Airlines, “be brought to an end”.Justice Milind Jadhav made the remark after senior counsel Amit Desai for Mallya submitted that a petition against seizures of his assets turned infructuous with seizures and sales over the last six years.“Actually, this issue needs to be put to an end. The idea is to move on… otherwise the relations and the economy of the country suffer,” Justice Jadhav remarked and sought a reply from the ED to clarify if the civil liabilities have been effectively settled with the recovery of Rs 15,000 crore.Has everything been “done and dusted”, asked the high court.Justice Jadhav in his order made available on Thursday said applications filed by Mallya and Kamsco Industries Pvt Ltd “have seen the light of the day today for the first time after the board department was directed to list all old shelf matters”.Mallya had sought quashing of a December 2019 PMLA court order over seizure of his assets. Desai said Mallya’s “civil liabilities have effectively been settled” as “consortium of banks have recovered approximately Rs 15,000 Crores from (Mallya) when compared with the original claim of Rs.6203 odd Crores including interest.”The high court said the ED needs to confirm such settlement. The high court clarified Mallya’s plea would have to be ascertained and confirmed by the ED.Justice Jadhav said only after hearing deputy director of ED would the high court “decide the further course of action in the present” plea.Mallya had left India for the UK in 2016 and that is where he remains.The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had confiscated Mallya’s assets in alleged claims of Rs 6,203 crore.In 2020, Mallya filed the petition and challenged a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) trial court order that permitted an SBI-headed consortium to use such ED-confiscated assets to recover unpaid dues. It was filed when settlement talks were afoot, said Desai, but by 2026 most of the properties he wanted protection for had been attached by the ED and sold, rendering the challenge redundant.In February, the high court had asked Mallya to inform the court when he intended to return to India. Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad had at the time orally said Mallya cannot avoid court processes by taking advantage of the pendency of his petition, in which he challenged the constitutionality of provisions of the Fugitive Economic Offender (FEO) Act.
