New Delhi: Fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya has been permitted to appeal against his extradition order signed off by home secretary, news agency PTI said after an oral hearing in the appeals court of the England and Wales high court.
It is a big relief as the oral hearing of his application to appeal against extradition to India was his last legal resort.
Earlier, on April 5, Mallya's written application was refused by Justice William Davis.
The extradition of Mallya--who is wanted in India on charges of defaulting on loans amounting to Rs 9,000 crore--expedited after home secretary Sajid Javid's February 4 order.
A spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which acts on behalf of the Indian government in UK courts, said: “The oral hearing on whether or not Vijay Mallya should be granted permission to appeal against extradition will be on 2 July at the High Court.”
“It is listed for one day. The judges will probably reserve their decision, but if the argument ends early enough they could give their decision the same day”.
It was anticipated that on Tuesday, if the oral arguments fail, Mallya would be exhausted with legal options in the United Kingdom and would be deported to India within days.
Legal experts calculated that he could try to further delay the process by seeking to appeal to the European Court of Justice on the grounds of 'violation of human rights'. He can advocate that his extradition is politically motivated and his medical needs won't be fulfilled in an Indian jail. Observers, however, believe that this tactic is unlikely to succeed.
The Indian authorities have already presented enough evidence to prove, Mallya, a diabetic, would be held at Mumbai's Arthur Road jail in accordance with international standards. In fact, as part of the initial extradition hearing, video evidence was presented on demanded of Westministers Magistrates to check the facilities and later they expressed satisfaction.
Mallya fled to the UK in March 2016 to escape his arrest. Since then he has constantly argued that charges against him are “wild, baseless and deliberately fabricated”.
