Bombay High Court Declines to Proceed on Mallya’s Petition Without His Return

(Judicial Quest News Network)

Bombay,24, December,2025-The Bombay High Court on Tuesday declined to entertain absconding businessman Vijay Mallya’s petition assailing the constitutional vires of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 (FEO Act), conditioning its hearing upon his surrender to Indian jurisdiction by returning to the country.

The petitioner has filed twin proceedings before the High Court: (i) a challenge to the Special Court’s 2019 order under Section 10 of the FEO Act declaring him a Fugitive Economic Offender; and (ii) a direct assault on the enactment’s constitutionality.

A Division Bench headed by Hon’ble Chief Justice Shri Chandrashekhar observed that the petitioner cannot litigate both pleas concurrently while remaining ex facie beyond the Court’s territorial jurisdiction. “You must furnish a categorical undertaking as to the date of your return to India; only thereafter shall we adjudicate the petition impugning the vires of the FEO Act,” the Bench peremptorily directed.