The Bombay High Court on Thursday said Vijay Mallya must first return to India if the court wants the court to consider his plea challenging the validity of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 (FEO Act).
Vijay Mallya (REUTERS) (HT_PRINT)”You have to come back. If you don’t come back, we cannot hear this plea,” the bench warned, according to a Bar and Bench report.
A bench of Chief Justice Shri Chandrasekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad is hearing Mallya’s plea challenging the FEO Act and the process of declaring her A fugitive economic offender.
The court asked him to make it clear that his challenge to the law will not be heard unless he submits to the court’s jurisdiction, the report added.
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No response from Mallya, last warningDespite this direction, the court on Thursday noted that Mallya had failed to submit an affidavit stating his intention to return to India.
“As you are avoiding the process of Indian and UK courts, you cannot take advantage of the present application challenging the Fugitive Economic Offenders (FEO) Act,” the court observed.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the ED and said that Mallya can come to India and plead, but he cannot defy the law of the country and still claim equity.
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“He can come and discuss everything mentioned in the affidavit – that he is ready to pay, not ready to pay, or not liable to pay. But he cannot trust the law of this country and invoke equity jurisdiction,” Mehta said.
Mallya’s lawyer, Amit Desai, wanted to rely on a ruling arguing that Mallya could be heard without returning to India.
The bench emphasized that there was a The existing order directs Mallya to indicate when he proposed to return.
The bench added that if he failed to do so even by the later date, he would now have to pass an order for non-compliance. “In fairness to you, we are not dismissing it; we are giving you another chance,” the court told Malia.
India is “fully committed” to ensuring that fugitives in the country and people “wanted by law” face trial here, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said. At a press briefing in December.
“We are fully committed that those who are absconding and wanted by law in India, will return home. For this, we are in discussions with several governments and the process is on,” Jaiswal said.
