Mumbai, November 22: The Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed the plea of fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya in which he sought stay on the proceedings under Fugitive Economic Offenders Act 2018, informed Information Directorate. He had also requested the court to put a stay on ED to confiscate his properties.

In the plea - filed before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court - Mallya had sought relief on the pretext that Appellate Tribunal for Foreign Exchange had ordered status quo in regards to attachments in PMLA case against him while adjudicating SBI's plea, adds the ED. Vijay Mallya in Trouble Again! UK Court Orders Liquor Baron to Pay 88,000 Pounds to UBS in Legal Costs

Seeking the court to remove the ‘fugitive’ tag against his name, the beleaguered businessman appealed that his properties not to be confiscated under Fugitive Economic Offenders Act 2018. Among other things, the liquor baron had requested the lower court in Mumbai to order a stay on the hearing of ED’s plea till November 26. The court’s appellate tribunal is about to hear the matters of the consortium of banks under the PMLA, seeking their dues back.

Earlier a special court had rejected Mallya’s application on October 30, due to which he approached High Court. Stating that Mallya’s pleas should not be misunderstood as a ploy to flee from the proceedings, his counsel Amit Desai on Thursday sought relief from the division bench of Justices R M Savant and V K Jadhav.

Desai said, as quoted by Business Today, “We are also anxious to clear the dues and to see to it that the creditors get their dues back. We only do not want the properties to be seized by the Enforcement Directorate, which would then hamper the process of clearance of dues.”

However, the bench was not convinced and said, “The application has been filed at the threshold and at a very premature stage when the lower court is still hearing the prosecuting agency's request to declare him (Mallya) a fugitive economic offender.” It said that based on merits, the lower court shall hear the application filed by the ED.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 22, 2018 05:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).