Fugitive industrialist Vijay Mallya has been "untraceable and unresponsive" for quite some time and failed to issue any instructions, his counsel on Thursday told the Supreme Court, seeking permission to discharge himself from representing the businessman.
"Mallya has been incommunicado for a long time. There is no instructions from him with regard to the pending matter," the counsel submitted before a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Hima Kohli.
The court asked the lawyer to provide Mallya’s email and residential address in the UK to the court registry.
It also allowed him to initiate the procedure for withdrawing his legal representation.
Mallya was sentenced to four months in jail with Rs 2,000 fine in his absence by the top court in a 2017 contempt case related to the transfer of $40 million to his three children's accounts, despite the court restraint order.
The top court had then also ordered the Union government to secure the presence of Mallya, presently residing in the United Kingdom, for undergoing the punishment.
The UK court had allowed India's plea for extradition of Mallya but some unknown proceedings over there had delayed the final process.
An SBI-led consortium of banks had also sought recovery of over Rs 9,000 crore, including interest on loans disbursed to Mallya.
(Published 03 November 2022, 15:05 IST)
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