Service Tax Dept to auction Mallya's aircraft on March 15-16

The Service Tax Department will auction liquor baron Vijay Mallya-led now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines' corporate jet in March to recover dues of Rs 535 crore.

The department in Mumbai has invited online global bids for sale of Corporate Jet Airbus A319 stationed at the Mumbai International Airport belonging to Kingfisher Airlines, which has already been attached by it.

The bidding will be conducted by MSTC, the selling agent of the Service Tax Department, on March 15-16, an auction notice stated.

As part of the pre-bid verification, bidders can seek clarification from the department regarding the aircraft, its particulars, equipment and any related documents at least 24 hours prior to submission of bid in the e-auction.

"The bidder will not raise any dispute regarding the terms and conditions of the e-auction or about the particulars of the aircraft or contest the same once he has been declared as the successful bidder for the aircraft," said the guidelines for the e-auction.

The prospective bidders shall have to submit interest free pre-Bid Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) to MSTC by March 14.

EMD for Indian bidders has been kept at Rs 50 lakh while it will be USD 75,000 for foreign players.

In March last year, the department in a petition to the Bombay High Court had claimed that Mallya's total disputed liability in respect of service tax was to the tune of Rs 535 crore.

It was also claimed that Mallya had collected a large sum of money as service tax from flyers of the now-grounded Kingfisher Airlines on behalf of the government, but the same was not deposited in the government treasury.

Mallya, whose group company owes over Rs 9,000 crore to 17 banks, had left the country on March 2, 2016.

Lenders to the now-non-functional airline and tax authorities have been putting under the hammer various movable and immovable assets of KFA, but have failed to get any buyers.