Court makes remark on Shri Naveen Jindal’s conduct as CEO; ethics of his phone call to Hon’ble NBSA chairman Justice JS Verma, though falling short of Sec 13 (1) (d)

ZNL Editors have been falsely implicated in a case relating to a series of exposes in the Coalgate scam involving Congress MP Naveen Jindal.

Zee News Ltd to pursue Shri Naveen Jindal’s aforementioned conduct in Hon’ble High Court

New Delhi: In a case filed by Zee News Ltd (ZNL) seeking CBI intervention against Shri Naveen Jindal, MP, for invoking Chief Justice (Retd) JS Verma, Hon’ble Chairperson, News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA), the order released on Wednesday has stated (emphasis added):

“At this stage, assuming for the sake of convenience that such act was indeed committed by accused no. 1 (Shri. Naveen Jindal), it could only be said to be in the realm of moral turpitude or unethical conduct that by no stretch of legal latitude could be said to constitute an offence of criminal misconduct within the meaning of Section 13 (1) (d) of the P. C. Act.”

“Again assuming for the sake of convenience the fact attributed to the accused (Shri Naveen Jindal) could only be perceived as having been done by him in his capacity as a CEO of a private company to show his might upon a non-governmental organization (NBSA) that cannot constitute an offence within the meaning of Section 13 (1) (d) of the P. C. Act.”

ZNL counsel Shri Vijay Aggarwal said he would now pursue the matter in the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi and said “The court has expressed doubts whether calling NBSA, in view of it being a private body, is unethical, criminal or not. Also, in view of the investigation being ordered, it may bring disrepute to NBSA and might affect pendency of civil suit defamation before Hon’ble High Court of Mumbai.”