New Delhi cannot get fugitive business tycoon Vijay Mallya extradited any time soon as per Times Now because apparently, he has applied for asylum and the proceedings which may lead the extradition process to drag on for years together.
As per recent direction from India’s Supreme Court which had questioned the delay in Mallya’s extradition despite him exhausting all legal options by May this year, India’s Home Secretary had written to the Foreign Secretary who met Indian High Commissioner in the UK and discussed the matter but he was not made known the details and exact “legal proceeding of confidential nature” going on in the UK pertaining to Mallya, Times Now reported.
The word is that Mallya is actively pursuing asylum proceedings and he has strong political patronage in the United Kingdom.
Asylum is a completely discretionary proceeding of the political dispensation and has nothing to do with the courts.
A bench headed by Justice Uday Lalit of the Supreme Court is waiting for Mallya’s extradition for pronouncing his sentence after convicting him for contempt. As per a judgment on July 14, 2017, Mallya was found guilty of contempt for not paying Rs 9,000 crore worth of dues to the banks despite repeated directions.
Mallya was also accused of not disclosing his assets and also secretly trying to dispose of the assets to defeat the recovery proceeding. Supreme Court had also dismissed Mallya’s review plea on August 30 this year finding no merit in it.
