HC dismisses plea by Mallya's firm against creditors

The Karnataka High Court on Monday dismissed an appeal made by Vijay Mallya’s United Breweries Holdings Limited (UBHL) against winding-up a petition filed by unsecured creditors for lack of merits.

Hearing the appeal, a division bench comprising Justice N Kumar and Justice Ratnakala dismissed the appeal for lack of merit.  Private sector finance major BNP Paribas had filed a winding-up petition against the company over unpaid dues. The counsel for UBHL contended that the admission order was erroneous and as far as solvency of the company was concerned,  BNP Paribas had not given notice to them on the assignment of grounded carrier Kingfisher Airlines. UBHL contended that it is commercially solvent and profitable and RBI permission does not specify assigns in its permission. Rejecting these claims, BNP Paribas counsel said UBHL is privy to the assignment of KFA (Kingfisher Airlines) to BNP Paribas and that the draft copy was included by BNP on the draft deed. KFA is simultaneously fighting several winding-up petitions by secured and unsecured creditors over unpaid dues running into thousands of crores.