Indian banks win UK bankruptcy appeal in Vijay Mallya case
London, Apr 9 (PTI): A consortium of Indian banks, led by State Bank of India, on Wednesday won their court appeal in London to uphold a bankruptcy order against Vijay Mallya in a long-standing legal battle seeking repayment of a judgment debt owed by his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
High Court judge Anthony Mann ruled in favour of the banks to allow an appeal heard in February, while refusing two applications seeking permission to appeal filed by the 69-year-old businessman, declared a fugitive and wanted for fraud and money laundering charges in India.
“The banks’ pleaded position on security was one which they were entitled to adopt,” Justice Mann ruled.
“The bottom line in relation to this is that the bankruptcy order stands,” he concludes.
Law firm TLT LLP, representing the banks, noted that the ruling confirmed the banks did not hold security over Mallya’s assets and that the bankruptcy petition was correct. The court also found that the realisations from assets attached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) were conditional and did not discharge the debt under English law.
“This is a significant result for the banks. TLT are pleased to have delivered this outcome, having acted for the banks since 2017 in relation to the DRT (Debt Recovery Tribunal) judgment of GBP 1.12 billion, obtained against Dr Mallya,” said Nick Curling, legal director at TLT LLP.
The case dates back to 2017 when the banks registered the DRT’s judgment in the English courts, which pertained to a personal guarantee Mallya had provided in relation to loans made to Kingfisher Airlines. The banks then served Mallya with a bankruptcy petition in September 2018, which he opposed on multiple grounds.
In April 2020, London’s Insolvency & Companies Court (ICC) ruled that the banks held security over Mallya’s assets, rendering the bankruptcy petition partially defective under Section 269 of the Insolvency Act 1986. The banks appealed this finding, and in March 2021 Justice Snowden permitted them to bring the security appeal, which was heard this year and has now been concluded.
In the interim, the banks amended the bankruptcy petition, agreeing they would relinquish any security held if Mallya was declared bankrupt. Mallya had opposed this amendment, arguing it was contrary to Indian law and public policy. However, in April 2021, the ICC ruled that the amendment was not contrary to Indian law or public policy.
“Despite Mallya’s subsequent appeals, including an appeal against the amendment decision and the Bankruptcy Order itself, Sir Anthony Mann sitting as a judge in the High Court delivered a decisive judgment on 9 April 2025. The court allowed the Security Appeal in favour of the banks, refused Mallya’s permission to bring the amendment appeal and the appeal against the bankruptcy order and ultimately upheld the bankruptcy order,” added TLT.
Mallya, who was declared bankrupt in July 2021, is pursuing a separate annulment application in the UK court, which is now scheduled for a directions hearing in October.
“In circumstances where even the (Indian) government confirms that the assets were ‘restored’, it is fanciful to imagine that those recoveries are in any sense conditional. Mallya will, on this basis, pursue with vigour his application to annul the Bankruptcy Order in England in conjunction with proceedings in the Karnataka High Court to compel the banks to provide an accounting and come clean,” said Leigh Crestohl, Mallya’s lawyer at Zaiwalla & Co.
Meanwhile, Mallya remains on bail in the UK while a “confidential” legal matter believed to be related to an asylum application is resolved in connection with the unrelated extradition proceedings.
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UP: 90 Bangladeshis, including 28 children, held in Mathura for illegal stay
Mathura (UP), May 16 (PTI): As many as 90 Bangladeshi nationals, including many children, were apprehended from Uttar Pradesh's Mathura district on Friday for alleged illegal stay in India, officials said.
They were taken into custody from local brickyards at Khajpur village under the Naujheel police station limits, a senior officer said.
"Regular searches were being conducted throughout the district. During one such operation, police were searching some local brickyards when they came across Bangladeshi nationals working there," SSP Shlok Kumar said.
Giving a break-up, the officer said in all, 35 men, 27 women and 28 children have been taken into custody.
"During interrogation, all of them admitted to being Bangladeshi nationals living illegally in India. They moved to Mathura three to four months back from a neighbouring state. Police are trying to establish their links," the SSP said, adding that their job contractor and other associates are also being questioned.
The officer told PTI that police also recovered some Aadhaar cards from the Bangladeshi nationals, apparently issued on forged documents in some other state.
Further legal proceedings are underway, Kumar said.
