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MUMBAI: Vijay Mallya on Wednesday told the Bombay high court that he is unable to precisely state when he will return to India, as he has been barred by English courts from leaving England and Wales, or apply for, or be in possession, of any international travel document.
“Pursuant to orders passed by the courts in England, the petitioner is not permitted to leave or attempt to leave England and Wales or apply for or be in possession of any international travel document,” said Mallya’s statement submitted to the high court on Wednesday. “In any event, the petitioner is unable to precisely state when he will return to India,” it added.
In his statement, Mallya also cited two cases in which the Supreme Court allowed lawyers to pursue the litigation when the persons declared as “fugitive economic offenders” were outside India and in at least two cases even quashed the FIRs and FEO proceedings against them.
The statement came in response to earlier court queries seeking clarification from the former liquor baron as to when he intended to return to India, as the court was not inclined to hear his petition challenging the constitutional validity of certain provisions of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018, under which he has been designated as a fugitive economic offender, in his absence.
On December 23, 2025 , the division bench of chief justice Shree Chandrashekhar and justice Gautam Ankhad clarified that Mallya needs to come to India if he wanted his petition to be heard.
In a statement filed through senior advocate Amit Desai on Wednesday, Mallya said that his petition can be heard even if he is not in India. “It is reiterated that one of the principal objectives for which the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018, was enacted is recovery of outstanding dues to banks, which has more than adequately been met in the present case”, it said.
Mallya has claimed that banks have recovered more money than he owes them, while the banks argue that he owes them still more.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, additional solicitor general Anil Singh, and advocate Adarsh Vyas, appearing for the Union government, submitted that Mallya’s petition should not be heard, and if he says that he cannot travel because his passport has been revoked, travel documents can be arranged for him.
Perusing Mallya’s statement, the bench directed his counsel to put his statements on a formal affidavit and to get a response from the Union government over Mallya’s stand. Posting the matter for next hearing on March 11, the court concluded, “File an affidavit and we will pass an order that day”.
Mallya has been facing multiple legal cases in India related to alleged loan defaults, fraud, money laundering and financial irregularities in connection with those loans. In July 2015, the Banking Securities & Fraud Cell of the Central Bureau of Investigation registered an FIR against him in connection with alleged irregularities in loans taken by Kingfisher Airlines from a consortium of banks led by IDBI Bank. He was charged with criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and criminal misconduct.
Mallya left India in March 2016 amid mounting legal pressure and has remained in the United Kingdom since then. He has been resisting extradition to India to face criminal charges. After the enactment of the FEO Act in 2018, proceedings were initiated against Mallya under the law, prompting him to file a petition in the high court. Although UK courts have approved his extradition to India, Mallya has utilized what has been termed a “confidential legal matter” to stay on in the UK. This is widely understood to mean an application for political asylum.
