Disclose all assets by April 21, says SC to Mallya as banks seek deposit

Lenders say they cannot forego principal amount; court grants Mallya time till April 21 to respond

The Supreme Court today directed liquor baron Vijay Mallya to disclose his entire assets, including that of his wife and children. The order was passed following the rejection by the consortium of 17 banks led by State Bank of India, of his offer of Rs 4,000 crore made by Mallya earlier to clear the debts. 

The banks wanted a substantial sum in deposit before starting any negotiations to settle the disputes over the huge debts. The banks claim at least Rs 9,000 crore is due to them. The court asked Mallya to indicate how much he was willing to deposit in the court in response to the banks’ demand. 

The request of the consortium for his personal presence for negotiations will be considered by the court on April 26 when the case will be taken up again. Mallya’s counsel told the bench consisting of Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Rohington Nariman that he had to get instructions from Mallya, who is said to be in England.

Another consortium of banks, led by Oriental Bank of Commerce also appeared today to intervene in the case. Its counsel said that there are three consortiums involved in the recovery of various debts. The court asked all parties to file their response to the opposite sides by April 21.

Senior counsel representing the SBI consortium told the court that Mallya had made another modified proposal a day before, but that offer was also not acceptable to the banks. Their officers considered all the proposals and rejected them “out of hand”. Though the banks are willing to sit across the table with Mallya, his presence is necessary before the officers for an “effective dialogue” and correspondence was not enough. Since the amounts involved are substantial, it was imperative that he should be available within a reasonable time. 

He said that the amount of deposit should be substantial and they should not be contingent, dependent on other conditions being met.

The banks are in favour of a negotiated settlement but their conditions must be met in order to instill confidence in them that Mallya and his companies are making bonafide gestures.

Mallya’s counsel C S Vaidyanathan said that the assets have already been disclosed in its statement and there was no difficulty in providing more details.