Delhi court sets aside govt order on journalists over Adani Enterprises

A Delhi court on Thursday (September 18) has set aside the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s order restraining journalists from publishing “defamatory” stories against Gautam Adani's Adani Enterprises.

The Bar and Bench reported that the order with regard to Ravi Nair, Abir Dasgupta, Ayaskant Das and Ayush Joshi has been set aside.

The report further stated that the order is still applicable to Paranjoy Guha Thakurta as the order on his appeal has been reserved by a judge of the same court.

The order setting aside the Government’s order was issued by District Judge Ashish Aggarwal of the Rohini Courts following an appeal by Nair, Dasgupta, Das and Joshi.

Also Read: Govt orders takedown of videos, posts on Adani citing Delhi court order

‘Articles in public domain for long time’

During the hearing, the judge pointed out that the articles had been in the public domain for a long time, adding that the civil judge should have heard the concerned journalists before issuing the order to take down their articles.

"While articles and posts spanning a substantial period were questioned by plaintiff through the suit, the court didn't deem it fit to grant opportunity of hearing to defendants before passingthe impugned order. In my opinion the civil judge ought to have granted that opportunity before passing an order which had impact of prima facie declaring articles are defamatory and even directing their removal," the judge said as quoted by Live Law.

Also Read: 'India stifles free expression, media freedom': Report on Commonwealth nations

‘Order not sustainable’

The judge further stated that the order on the concerned journalists was not sustainable adding that he was setting it aside without any finding on merits of the case.

"The effect would be in the event of the court of senior civil judge subsequently finding that the articles are not defamatory, after defendants put forth their defence, it is not feasible that articles which have been removed would then be restored. Therefore in my opinion the trial court should have decided the prayers made by plaintiff after giving hearing opportunity to the defendants. The impugned order is not sustainable. Accordingly I allow the appeal and set aside the impugned order without any finding on merits of the case,” added the judge.

However, another judge of the same court has reserved the verdict on Paranjoy Guha Thakurta's plea against the government order.