Keen to recover loans to the tune of over R9,000 crore, a consortium of 13 banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking to restrain liquor baron Vijay Mallya from leaving the country.

A bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur said it will hear the plea on Wedesday after Attorney general Mukul Rohatgi argued that the banks “wanted the gentleman here” as Mallya is a non-resident Indian.

However, the Debt Recovery Tribunal in Bangalore on Monday blocked a $75 million settlement Mallya agreed with Diageo Plc at the request of the SBI and other creditors. Even Mallya on Sunday said that he had no plans to run away from his creditors and was in talks over a one-time settlement to resolve Kingfisher’s debt.

Apprehending that that Mallya may flee without paying the dues, the creditor banks want impounding of Mallya’s passport, saying it was “very urgent” in view of the fact that if he succeeds in going to London and settling there, the banks would not be able to recover their dues and this may adversely impact the economy of the nation.

It is essential that the passport of the Mallya is impounded and he is directed to not leave the territorial jurisdiction of India without permission of the apex court and also that a warrant of arrest is issued against the liquor baron and he is directed to furnish suitable security for his appearance before the DRT during the pendency of its plea, the PSU banks stated.

Challenging the March 4 order of the Karnataka High Court that refused to freeze Mallya’s passport and issue arrest warrants against him, the consortium of banks in its plea before the apex court submitted that both the HC and DRT have failed to protect interests of lenders, who are yet to recover R9000 crore from Kingfisher Airlines (KAL), United Breweries (Holdings) (UBHL), Vijay Mallya and Kingfisher Finvest (India) (KFIL), and also that of public at large.

SBI has R1,600 crore of exposure to KAL, once the country’s second-biggest airline which stopped flying more than three years ago.

“The banks individually had advanced loan of thousands of crores of rupees to KAL. By way of a Master Debts Recast Agreement of December 21, 2010 and other related financing documents the existing loans were restructured and treated as a single facility. UBHL and Mallya had also executed a corporate guarantee and a personal guarantee, respectively, guaranteeing repayment of the entire amount due,” the petition stated.

According to the lenders, the accounts were not serviced and were declared as Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) by each of the banks, who had then approached the DRT seeking recovery of over R6203.35 crore from Mallya and the three companies.