HC denies interim relief to Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot in BJP MLA’s defamation case

Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot had sought temporary injunction in a case related to low floor bus scam allegations levelled by BJP MLA Vijender Gupta.

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New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has refused to entertain a plea by Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot, who sought temporary injunction in a case related to low floor bus scam allegations levelled by BJP MLA Vijender Gupta.

A bench of Justice Asha Menon, in an order passed on Monday, said no case for grant of interim injunction to restrain the defendant (Gupta) from tweeting or publishing his views or to take down or archive the existing tweets, is made out.

The Delhi Transport Minister had filed a criminal complaint against Gupta for allegedly defaming him in a matter related to the procurement of 1,000 low-floor buses by the Delhi Transport Corporation and sought Rs 5 crore in damages and also removal of media posts by the BJP legislator.

In the order, the court said, "It cannot be overlooked that both, the plaintiff as well as the defendant, are public figures and members of the Legislative Assembly. There is a right vested in the Opposition to question the government on its actions, as the Executive is subject to the Legislature under the Constitution. This is key to the maintenance of the balance of power between the two wings of the state."

"While assessing whether the tweets contain a misrepresentation of the facts causing damage to the reputation of the plaintiff, one factor has to be also kept in mind namely, that the defendant claims that there is material in the public domain relating to the tendering for the purchase of the buses as also the AMCs from previous years, which were clouded and which were not taken through and that therefore, the decisions taken by the Government in 2020-21 had to be closely monitored. It was on his public demand that the Minutes of the current tendering process were uploaded. The Committee Report was also in the public domain. Thus, it is clear that defendant seeks to justify his tweets on the basis of public records." the order read.

Gahlot, in his complaint, had alleged that Gupta with "malafide purposes and to gain political mileage, has levelled defamatory, scandalous, mischievous, false and scurrilous allegations on the complainant both verbal as well as in writing on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook through his account."

The Minister had also mentioned in his complaint that after getting the charge of the transport ministry in the Delhi government, he took the initiative for inducting around 1,500 new buses since 2017 for the welfare of the people.