Cheque bounce case: Mallya order postponed to 25 May

Hyderabad: A city court on Monday postponed till 25 May its order on the quantum of sentence for industrialist Vijay Mallya in two cheque bounce cases filed against him by the GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. The Third Special Magistrate Court, which was to pronounce its orders on Monday, again put it off as Mallya did not appear before it, said GMR counsel Ashok Reddy. The court, which had convicted Mallya and an official of the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines on April 20, had earlier adjourned the orders on 5 May on the same grounds. [caption id=“attachment_2771778” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo. AFP[/caption] The liquor baron was convicted under the Negotiable Instruments Act in two cases relating of bouncing of two cheques of Rs.50 lakh each. The cheques were issued by Kingfisher Airlines to GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd, which operates the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here towards charges for using the facilities at the airport for its flights. Special Magistrate Court on 5 May had issued NBWs against Mallya and Raghunathan in connection with another complaint filed by GMR over dishonouring of cheque and had posted the matter to 7 June. As per the GMR counsel, a total of 17 cases have been filed against Kingfisher Airlines in different courts over outstanding amount of Rs 22.5 crore which it owes to GMR and the cases are in different stages of trial. GHIAL had in October 2012 withdrawn a case over “bounced” cheques against Mallya after the airline agreed to pay the outstanding amount due to the airport operator. However, Kingfisher made only a part of the payment and defaulted on the rest, prompting the airport operator to approach the court. Mallya, who has defaulted on payment of loans to the tune of Rs.9,000 crore to various banks, is currently in Britain.   With inputs from agencies