The Bombay High Court yesterday asked city-based firm SGI Commex, which claims to have won the auction of Vijay Mallya’s luxury jet, to file an affidavit in response to a petition filed by Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), seeking taxes and hangar charges of Rs 3.95-crore. The Service Tax Department also asked in the Bombay High Court for the sale of the personal jet to be cancelled. Interestingly, the personal jet was sold at the price of Rs 27.39-crore, one-sixth of the reserve price to SGI Commex by Service Tax Department, which had seized it, as Mallya owes it Rs 800-crore.

An auction was held by the Service Tax department on August 18, in which the personal jet, Airbus A319-133, was sold to art connoisseur G S Srivasatava, Chairman of SGI Commex, who plans to convert it into an art pilgrimage venture.