After multiple failures, Narendra Modi led government are planning to auction Vijay Mallya’s private luxury jet A319 again. The private jet has been parked at the Mumbai airport from three years.
According to a media report, the liquidator of Karnataka High Court has fixed the date and timings for the online auction of Mallya’s A319. Stating liquidator’s direction, the report stated that A-319 jet, which has been codenamed as VT-VJM after Vijaya Mallya, would be auctioned from June 29 till June 30, from 2 pm to 2 pm respectively.
The minimum bid value for the action has been kept around Rs 12 crore. The buyer will also have to pay an additional 28 per cent GST charge on the auction amount, the report stated.
A319 can accommodate 25 passengers with six more crew members. The jet has amenities like a bedroom, bathroom, bar and area for the conference among others. The 25-seater has also got portraits of gods inside while the exterior has got names of Mallya’s three children — son and two daughters — imprinted on the nose of the plane. His own initials ‘VJM’ form part of the name of the jet.
Reflecting the personalised ways of Vijay Mallya, once known as ‘King of Good Times’ and often criticised as being flamboyant, the interior of the plane has also got at multiple spots the winged horse perched over the bold initials ‘UB’ — the logo of his UB group.
The Airbus plane, grounded for over three years and gathering dust in a lonely bay at the Mumbai airport, is among the many properties of the businessman that are on the block.
Earlier the authorities along with Mallya’s other assets tried to sell off the jet but failed.
In December 2013, the Kingfisher airlines were seized by the service tax department in return of the dues but has failed to sell the aircraft in its previous attempts as it didn’t receive such a bid to auction the aircraft.
Amid mounting pressure from lenders on the loan default, Mallya left the country in March, 2016, for the UK, and since then, authorities have been making efforts to bring him back. His passport has been revoked and there is also a non-bailable warrant against him.
He has been objecting to the ‘fugitive’ tag and said in a recent interview in London that he was in a “forced exile” and has now become “the king of bad times”.
Prasanta Patnaik 
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