HC to hear Newslaundry plea against Centre's Adani case order on Sep 25

The Delhi High Court would on September 25 consider the pleas of digital news platform Newslaundry and senior journalist Ravish Kumar challenging the Centre's purported direction asking digital news publishers to take down multiple reports and videos concerning Adani Group of Companies.

Justice Sachin Datta on Monday set the date after hearing the matter briefly.

The petitioners said the plea was not on merit, since the trial court was already scheduled to hear the matter on September 23 against an interim order.

"This present petition is only on power of the government to enforce an order passed inter-parte between two private people where I am not..," the counsel said.

Meanwhile, the counsel representing the central government, said the Centre "communicated" the order passed by the court, and did not pass any order.

A Delhi court on September 18 set aside an civil judge's order asking four journalists to take down alleged defamatory content against Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL), saying the effect of removal of the articles by an ad interim ex parte order was "sweeping" and it had the "effect of decreeing the suit itself without a trial".

Acting on AEL's defamation complaint, the civil judge had directed 10 defendants, including the four journalists, to take down the contentious material, like articles and social media posts, already published on various platforms, including websites, within a stipulated period.