Mallya flew away like a kingfisher: HC

‘Like the bird, he knows no boundaries’

The Bombay High Court on Monday observed that businessman Vijay Mallya had aptly named his company ‘Kingfisher’ as, like the bird of the same name, he too flew away without bothering about boundaries.

The remark was made by a Division Bench of Justices S.C. Dharmadhikari and B.P. Colabawala while hearing an appeal filed by the Service Tax Department (STD), and also another petition seeking to recall the auction sale of Mallya’s private aircraft filed by the department.

Appeal admitted

“Does anyone know why he [Mallya] came up with the name ‘Kingfisher’ for his entity? In history, no one could have come up with a more apt name for this entity. Because the kingfisher is a bird that can fly away...it knows no boundaries...no boundaries can stop it. Just like how no one could stop him [Mallya],” Justice Dharmadhikari said.

The court admitted the appeal filed by the Service Tax department and posted it for hearing at a later stage.

According to the plea, Mallya owes Rs. 32.68 crore as service tax from tickets sold to passengers of Kingfisher Airlines between April 2011 and September 2012. Mallya owes the department about Rs. 532 crore. — PTI