JOIN USThe high court on Friday issued a warrant against liquor baron Vijay Mallya for contempt of court.
A consortium of banks has accused him of violating an undertaking at the Debt Recovery Tribunal, thereby showing contempt to the judiciary. Hearing a petition filed by State Bank of India and others, a division bench ordered a bailable warrant against Mallya for Rs 1 lakh.
The bench comprises Justice Jayant Patel and Justice Aravind Kumar. When Mallya failed to appear before the court, S S Naganand, counsel for the banks, sought a non-bailable warrant against him.
Justice Patel asked if the banks held any documents to indicate Mallya was not in the country. Naganand cited documents submitted by Mallya to the Supreme Court.
The bench directed him to submit the documents, after which it said it would decide on issuing a non-bailable warrant.
The banks claim Mallya has not kept his word not to transfer his shares in United Breweries Holdings Limited to Diageo, a British multinational alcoholic beverages company.
According to the petition, Mallya and his son Siddharth pledged their shares to Standard Chartered Bank and violated the undertaking.