Vijay Mallya's counsel seeks to be relieved from case before Supreme Court, Bench refuses to discharge lawyer

The Supreme Court today refused to discharge Advocate EC Agrawala from his capacity as fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya's counsel in the contempt case before the Supreme Court.

. The Bench of Justices UU Lalit and Ashok Bhushan was informed that Advocate Agrawala had filed a discharge application before the Apex Court.

However, the Court refused to entertain the same.

. On coming to know this, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta intervened and submitted that Mallya's non-cooperation with his lawyer was itself aggravating contempt.

. The Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had earlier told the Supreme Court that Mallya's extradition has not been given effect due to some "secret proceedings" initiated against him in the United Kingdom.

.Vijay Mallya contempt case: MEA tells Supreme Court that extradition is stalled due to "secret" proceedings against liquor baron in UK. When the Court had sought to know when these proceedings are likely to conclude, the MEA said that the Government of India has not been made party to these proceedings, and that the nature of these proceedings remains confidential.

. Today, the Bench granted the Centre time to submit a status report on the extradition proceedings of Mallya by the first week of January 2021, after which the matter will be taken up for hearing.

. The Court noted that certain "pending proceedings" in relation to the extradition existed in the Courts of United Kingdom. An application to that effect was filed by Advocate Ankur Saigal, another counsel for Mallya.

. The application deals with the following questions posed by the Apex Court:

What is the nature of the proceedings pending in the UK?

When are these proceedings likely to get over?

When will the contemnor he appearing before the Court?

. On August 31, the Apex Court had dismissed the review petition filed by Mallya against the order holding him guilty of contempt. The Court had directed the fugitive industrialist to be present before it on October 5 at 2 PM.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) was directed to ensure Mallya's presence before the Court.

The Court had earlier held Mallya guilty of contempt of court in 2017 for wilfully disobeying its orders in a petition filed by the Consortium of Creditors (CoC) led by the State Bank of India (SBI). Mallya was alleged to have transferred funds into the accounts of other persons in violation of the Court's orders, in addition to making "vague and unclear" disclosures about his assets.

.Breaking: Supreme Court dismisses Vijay Mallya review petition in contempt case. The Court's 2017 judgment was under review before the Division Bench. In his review petition, Mallya had asserted that the Court had erred in proceeding against him on the basis of an incorrect recording that a reply was not filed by him in response to the banks.

It was on this ground that the Court had placed the review petition for hearing before an open court.

While dismissing the review petition on August 31, the Court acknowledged the error on its part to have observed and proceeded on the premise that a reply was not filed by Mallya in response to the statements filed by the banks.

.Supreme Court fails to find crucial reply filed by Vijay Mallya in case records, to hear review plea on August 20

Vijay Mallya's counsel seeks to be relieved from case before Supreme Court, Bench refuses to discharge lawyer

Debayan Roy

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