Failed to Get Hold of Vijay Mallya's Villa Despite Court Order: SBI
State Bank of India, the country's biggest lender, has failed to get hold of liquor baron Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Villa in Goa despite a court order, according to SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya. The Kingfisher Villa in north Goa is named after Mr Mallya's UB Group's popular beer brand.
"Even in respect of one particular villa, which we were trying to get possession of...in spite of the fact that the High Court had passed an order that it should be done in three months...the order was given to the collector...he held eight hearings and then went on leave...so we couldn't get the order.
"Normally, collectors are supposed to take possession and not hold hearings, but this person held eight hearings and we are still not in possession of it though we are trying very hard," said Ms Bhattacharya in an interview to NDTV. (Watch)
The Kingfisher Villa is part of the collateral pledged by United Breweries (Holdings) Ltd and Mr Mallya, guarantors to the Rs 7,000-crore loan that his Kingfisher Airlines had taken from a consortium of banks. SBI has the highest exposure of Rs 1,600 crore to the defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
Mr Mallya, who owned India's biggest spirits company, has been taken to court by a consortium of 17 banks for failing to repay the debt owed by the Kingfisher Airlines.
The government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that Mr Mallya went abroad on March 2. The court was hearing the petition of 17 banks which had said that Mr Mallya should be stopped from leaving India because of the enormous debts that his grounded Kingfisher Airlines owes.
According to media reports, SBICAP Trustee Company, which plans to e-auction the 2,401.70 square meter property, has set the reserve price of the villa at Rs 150 crore.
State-run banks have been weighed down by bad loans, which totalled Rs 3.60 lakh crore as of December, 2015. In the Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley proposed the infusion of Rs 25,000 crore into public sector banks.
