Now Maharashtra service tax after Mallya for dues

Adding to the woes of the defunct Kingfisher Airlines boss Vijay Mallya, the Maharashtra sales tax department on Wednesday filed a plea in Bombay High Court seeking recovery of dues amounting to crores of rupees.

The petition was mentioned by ST department counsel Advait Sethna before Justice C.V. Bhadang who asked him to bring it up on Friday and it would be taken up for hearing.

The department has earlier filed two cases in a magistrate's court against Mallya claiming a liability of service tax dues of Rs.32.68 crore and Rs.23.38 crore for different periods. While one is currently being heard, the other is pending hearing.

However, the department has made a total disputed liability of service tax by Mallya to the tune of Rs.535 crore.

The department apprehends that if Mallya was absent from the trial in India, it could cause grave prejudice to its cases, coming up after various public sector banks have also moved the Supreme Court against the liquor baron.

It has also sought freezing of Mallya's passports, and restricting his movements abroad as media reports have said his Rajya Sabha term expires on June 30 and he was planning to spend more time abroad.

In its petition, the department has contended that large sums of service tax collected from passengers of the grounded KFA were not deposited with the government and hence Mallya and other airline directors are defaulters of statutory tax, so the amount must be recovered from them.

It has sought high court directions for Mallya's presence in the court and also before the trial in the magistrate's court till recovery of the tax dues.