Won't wait: SC to begin hearing on sentencing of Vijay Mallya in contempt of court case

n a big development in the Vijay Mallya case the Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will begin hearing on sentencing him in a contempt of court in which he was held guilty in July 2017A bench headed by Justice UU Lalit has kept the urgent hearing on Mallyas sentencing at 2 pm The bench asked the Centres counsel to inform Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to be present in the court with written instructions from the Ministry of External AffairsAfter the top courts decision to begin hearing on Mallyas sentencing the delay in his extradition from the UK would not stand in the way of the apex court to pronounce the quantum of sentence The top court noted that Mallyas counsel has been appearing before it during every hearing it would hear arguments on sentence at 2 pm TuesdayAccording to a judgment delivered on July 14 2017 Mallya was found guilty of contempt for not paying Rs 9000 crore worth of dues to the banks despite repeated directions Additionally he was also accused of not disclosing his assets and also secretly trying to dispose of the assets to defeat the purpose of recovery proceedingsOn October 6 last year the Ministry of Home Affairs MHA has told the Supreme Court that the UK Home Office has intimated there is a further legal issue which needs to be resolved before Vijay Mallyas extradition takes place and this issue is outside and apart from the extradition process having effect under the UK law The affidavit had said that Vijay Mallyas surrender to India should in principle have been completed within 28 days after he lost the appeal against extradition However the UK Home Office intimated that there is further legal issue which needs to be resolved before Mallyas extradition takes placeAlso read lsquoPeople arenrsquot really looking for help They just want to feel like they are not alonersquoOn November 2 the top court had asked the Centre to file a status report on extradition of the fugitive businessman within six weeksOn January 18 the Centre had informed the Supreme Court that Vijay Mallyas extradition has been raised at the highest political level but the UK government has refused to share the details of the confidential proceedings delaying his extraditionIn December 2020 External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar raised the issue with UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and most recently in January 2021 the Home Secretary of India raised it with the UK Permanent Under Secretary of Home The UKs response remained the same said Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had told the top court Mehta added that in November last year the foreign secretary of India raised the issue of Vijay Mallya extradition with UK Home Secretary Priti Patel who responded that the UKs legal complexities were preventing Mallays quick extraditionThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever