Kailash Gahlot moves division bench for ex-parte relief in defamation case against BJP MLA

By Sushil Batra
New Delhi [India], September 4 : Delhi Cabinet Minister Kailash Gahlot has approached the Division Bench of Delhi High Court challenging a single Bench order, which refused to grant an ex-parte injunction in a defamation suit filed against Delhi BJP MLA Vijender Gupta for allegedly making a false statement of corruption against him in relation to the procurement of public buses.
The Division Bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh will hear the matter on Monday.
Recently, the single bench of Justice Asha Menon had refused to grant an ex-parte injunction in the defamation complaint against BJP's Vijender Gupta for allegedly sharing posts on social media against him in connection with alleged irregularities in the procurement of 1,000 low-floor buses by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC).
The court had said, "In the case, there were specific allegations made of some under hand dealing in the acquisition of some immovable property in Switzerland, whereas in the present case, prima facie, no personal allegations appear to have been specifically made against the plaintiff except to the extent of saying that the entire transaction appears to be a 'scam'. At this stage, therefore, no ex-parte injunction is called for," the Court said.
Kailash Gahlot, who holds several portfolios in the Delhi Government including the Transport Department, has filed a petition seeking a decree of mandatory injunction directing Vijender Gupta to immediately delete, from his Twitter account all the tweets, posts made against him. Gahlot also sought a mandatory injunction directing Gupta to immediately delete, from his Facebook Account all the defamatory posts made against him.
He also sought a permanent injunction restraining defendant Gupta from posting, tweeting, publishing any defamatory or scandalous or factually incorrect tweets or posts on his Twitter account, Facebook account or any social media account.
Gahlot also sought to pass a decree of damages direct for an amount of Rs 5 crore for defaming him and causing loss to his reputation.
Gahlot was represented by senior advocates Rajiv Nayar and Manish Vashisht with lawyers Dhruv Rohatgi, Abhinav Sharma, Urvi Kapoor and Sanjana Nangia.
Gahlot has alleged that without verifying facts, defendant Gupta had intentionally and with malice called him "corrupt" and "involved in open loot".
Senior counsel for the plaintiff Gahlot had submitted that as regards the purchase of 1000 Low Floor Buses, the Lt. Governor of Delhi has formed an Independent Committee of three members. The defendant Gupta had also raised a starred question in the Delhi Legislative Assembly in the month of July 2021 seeking response and clarification on procurement and maintenance of the said buses. The plaintiff Gahlot in his capacity as the Minister of Transport had also given replies to the said questions on the floor of the House. Senior counsel for the plaintiff submitted that despite the above, Gupta continued with his defamatory tweets, posts, interviews, broadcasts and conferences against the plaintiff.
The plaintiff claimed that as per the information received from electronic and print media, the Committee had observed that the allegations made by the defendant Gupta were untrue and unfounded.
Along with a civil defamation suit, Kailash Gahlot had also filed a criminal defamation case against Gupta in which a trial court has already taken the cognizance and is currently at the stage of examination of the complainant's pre-summoning evidence.