Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta on Tuesday told the Bombay high court that the extradition proceedings against liquor baron Vijay Mallya are at an advanced stage and also expressed apprehension that Mallya may use his pending petition before the high court to delay the process.
Mehta, appearing on behalf of the Central government, was responding to a petition filed by Mallya that challenged the constitutional validity of the Fugitive Economic Offenders (FEO) Act, 2018. Mallya has also challenged a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court order dated January 5, 2019, declaring him an FEO.
On Tuesday, when the petitions came up for hearing, the division bench of chief justice Shree Chandrashekhar and justice Gautam Akhand refused to hear Mallya’s challenge to the constitutional validity of the FEO Act, unless he returns to India and submits to the jurisdiction of the courts in India. The court then asked Mallya’s counsel to file an affidavit declaring when he plans to return to the country.
Senior advocate Amit Desai, representing Mallya, tried to persuade the court to hear both the petitions, contending that FEO Act itself provides an offender legal remedies. Desai added that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had attached his client’s assets worth around ₹14,000 crore when his liabilities are limited to ₹6,000 crore and therefore Mallya was trying to find a viable solution and is planning to make a representation to the central government to close all pending criminal cases against him.
The judges, however, made it clear that they would hear his petition questioning the special court order declaring him an FEO, but not his constitutional challenge to the FEO Act, unless he submits himself to the jurisdiction of courts in India. “We can permit you to challenge any order passed under the (FEO) Act, in your absence, but cannot allow you to challenge the vires (constitutional validity) of the (FEO) Act,” the judges said.
{{/usCountry}}The judges, however, made it clear that they would hear his petition questioning the special court order declaring him an FEO, but not his constitutional challenge to the FEO Act, unless he submits himself to the jurisdiction of courts in India. “We can permit you to challenge any order passed under the (FEO) Act, in your absence, but cannot allow you to challenge the vires (constitutional validity) of the (FEO) Act,” the judges said.
{{/usCountry}}The court has posted the petition for further hearing to February 12, 2026.
Mallya, who is accused of loan fraud and money laundering, fled the country in March 2016, around a year after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered the first criminal case against him in connection with loans taken by Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, from a consortium of banks led by IDBI Bank. Based on another complaint by a consortium of banks led State Bank of India, another FIR was registered in August 2016.
After enactment of the FEO Act in 2018, proceedings were initiated against Mallya under the law, prompting him to file the petition before the high cour.