MUMBAI, Aug. 13 -- The Bombay High Court on Wednesday observed that the long-running dispute between fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya and a consortium of lenders led by the State Bank of India (SBI) over recovery of dues needed to "be brought to an end" in the interest of the country's economy. A single-judge bench of Justice Milind Jadhav made the observation while hearing Mallya's 2020 petition challenging an order passed by a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court, which had allowed the SBI-led consortium to utilise assets confiscated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to recover unpaid dues. Mallya was declared a fugitive economic offender in January 2019. The following month, the ED had informed the special PMLA court that it had no objection to the consortium liquidating Mallya's confiscated assets to recover the debts. On Wednesday, senior advocate Amit Desai, appearing for Mallya, told the court that the 2020 petition was filed when settlement talks were ongoing and protection was sought for specific assets. The application had become redundant as most of the mentioned assets had already been attached and dealt with, Desai said. The bench appeared to agree. "Actually, this issue needs to be put to an end. The idea is to move on. otherwise the relations and the economy of the country suffer," justice Jadhav said. Desai argued that Mallya's civil liabilities were over and the banks had already recovered around Rs.15,000 crore from him against the original claimed dues of Rs.6,203.35 crore plus interest. "Public sector banks keeping this matter pending is unfortunate," he said. "The RBI audit itself says it's an airline's business failure and nothing else. Banks have taken away Rs.15,000 crore and now they say sorry. That's not good enough." The court directed ED to file an affidavit clarifying whether the settlement process had concluded and if "everything is done and dusted," while emphasising that this would not impact the criminal prosecution against Mallya, which must still be "taken to its logical end". The court said it would decide on the further course of action after hearing from the ED's deputy director concerned. Mallya left India in March 2016 amid mounting legal pressure and has remained in the United Kingdom since. He has been resisting extradition to India to face criminal charges. After the enactment of the FEO Act in 2018, proceedings were initiated against Mallya under the law, prompting him to file a petition in the high court....