HC to hear Mallya's plea on Nov 9

new delhi: karnataka-based liquor baron vijay mallya, an accused in a fera violation case, challenged in the delhi high court on wednesday, the proceedings against him in the trial court. fixing november 9 for arguments, justice s k agarwal said the lower court should not pronounce its order till the matter was disposed of in the high court. however, the court of the additional chief metropolitan magistrate may continue proceedings in the meantime, the judge said while declining to grant a stay on the proceedings as pleaded by senior advocates fali s nariman and r k anand, appearing for mallya.acmm v k maheshwari on august 9 had framed charges against the united breweries chairman for his failure to respond to summons of the enforcement directorate which handles cases of fera violation. mallya pleaded not guilty and claimed trial. the court framed charges after examining eight witnesses and observed prima facie there was sufficient evidence against him. the enforcement directorate had alleged that he had not appeared before it for examination in connection with the fera violation case despite several summons. the court had fixed october 1 as the date of trial, but mallya moved the high court saying the proceedings should be stayed. mallya's lawyers challenged the charges and claimed the accused had been fully cooperating with the directorate. the ed had alleged that mallya had violated fera provisions while arranging funds for advertising his liquor products abroad a few years ago. during the course of investigation, four summons were issued by ed to mallya between september 15, 1999 and december 21, 1999 to appear before it. ed counsel naveen kumar matta said the directorate wanted to interrogate mallya in connection with a contract of his company with a london-based firm benetton formula ltd for promotion of his liquor brand kingfisher abroad. the ed alleged mallya had refused to accept summons on december 22, 1999 in bangalore, but mallya's lawyers claimed he was not in bangalore on that day. there was no wilful and intentional refusal to accept the summons, they said. besides being chief of the ub group, mallya is also chairman of the federation of motor sports club of india, and a member of the federation de international automobiles, paris. the ed case is that mallya had paid several million dollars to british company benetton formula limited for displaying his brewery's kingfisher beer logo in formula one grand prix held in london and some european countries in 1999 and the money was paid in violation of fera rules.