Delhi High Court - Orders
Srei Infrastructure Finance Ltd. & Ors vs International Media Corporation & Ors on 26 February, 2021
Author: Manoj Kumar Ohri
Bench: Manoj Kumar Ohri
$~14
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ CS (OS) 68/2021
SREI INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCE LTD. & ORS. ..... Plaintiffs
Through: Mr. Darpan Wadhwa, Sr. Advocate
with Mr. Arjun Syal, Ms. Manjira
Dasgupta, Mr. Shreyan Das and Ms.
Akshita Sachdeva, Advocates with
Mr. R.D. Khullar, A.R. of Plaintiffs in
person.
Versus
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA CORPORATION & ORS. .... Defendants
Through: Mr. Neel Mason, Ms. Ridhima Pabbi
and Ms. Sanyukta Banerjie, Advocates
for D-2 & D-3.
Mr. Parag Tripathi, Sr. Advocate with
Mr. Ajit Warrier, Mr. Gauhar Mirza,
Mr. Shijo George, Ms. Mishika Bajpai
and Mr. Yash Karunakaran, Advocates
for D-4.
Mr. Abhishek Kumar and Mr. Saurabh
Kumar, Advocates for D-9.
Mr. Deepak Gogia, Advocate for
Twitter Inc.
Mr. Vikrant N Goyal, Advocate for
Union of India.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANOJ KUMAR OHRI
(VIA VIDEO CONFERENCING)
ORDER
% 26.02.2021
[
I.A. 2984/2021 (Under Order I Rule 10 (2) for Impleadment by the Plaintiffs)
1. The present application has been filed under Order I Rule 10 (2) read CS (OS) 68/2021 Page 1 of 4 with Section 151 CPC on behalf of the plaintiffs seeking impleadment of Twitter Inc.' as a defendant.
2. Mr. Darpan Wadhwa, learned Senior Counsel for the plaintiffs submits that the 'Twitter Inc.' be impleaded as one of the defendants in place of 'Twitter International Company' (defendant No. 7) and 'Twitter Communications India Pvt. Ltd.' (defendant No. 8). He further submits that the averments made against 'Twitter International Company' and 'Twitter Communications India Pvt. Ltd.' be read as against 'Twitter Inc.'
3. Issue notice.
4. Mr. Deepak Gogia, Advocate appears and accepts notice on behalf of 'Twitter Inc.'. He submits that he has no objection to the grant of present application and seeks some four weeks' time to file the written statement on behalf of 'Twitter Inc.'.
5. Accordingly, the application is allowed and 'Twitter Inc.' is impleaded as a defendant. The names of defendant No. 7 i.e., 'Twitter International Company' and defendant No. 8 i.e. 'Twitter Communications India Pvt. Ltd.' are deleted from the array of the parties.
6. The written statement to the suit must be filed by the newly impleaded defendant within thirty days from today along with admission/denial of the documents filed by the plaintiffs, failing which the written statement shall not be taken on record. Replication thereto, if any, be filed within three weeks after filing of the written statement. The replication shall be accompanied by affidavit of admission/denial in respect of the documents filed by defendant/ 'Twitter Inc.', failing which the replication shall not be taken on record.
7. It is made clear that the order dated 01.02.2021 shall also be CS (OS) 68/2021 Page 2 of 4 applicable to the newly impleaded defendant i.e., 'Twitter Inc.'.
8. Application is disposed of.
I.A. 2985/2021 (Under Order XXXIX Rule 2A CPC by the Plaintiffs)
1. The present application has been filed under Order XXXIX Rule 2A CPC on behalf of the plaintiffs seeking directions against defendant Nos. 1 and 4 to 6.
2. Mr. Darpan Wadhwa, learned Senior Counsel for the plaintiffs submits that after passing of the order dated 01.02.2021, 28 additional defamatory URLs/weblinks have surfaced on the internet.
3. Mr. Parag Tripathi, learned Senior Counsel for defendant No. 4 submits that the aforementioned 28 URLs/weblinks already stand deleted, even prior to the service of the present application. He further submits that defendant No. 4 has already complied with the orders and undertakes to comply with the orders passed by this Court even in future. Mr. Darpan Wadhwa, learned Senior Counsel for the plaintiffs, on instructions, submits that in view of the statement made on behalf of 'Facebook Inc.' by Mr. Parag Tripathi, learned Senior Counsel for defendant No. 4, he is not pressing payer in the captioned application against any other defendants except defendant No. 1.
4. Mr. Parag Tripathi, learned Senior Counsel also submits that 'Facebook Inc.' is the only necessary party and therefore, 'Facebook Ireland', 'Facebook India Online Services Pvt. Ltd.'/defendant No. 5 and 'Instagram'/defendant No. 6 be deleted from the array of the parties.
5. Mr. Darpan Wadhwa, learned Senior Counsel for the plaintiffs, on instructions, submits that he has no objection to the above request made on CS (OS) 68/2021 Page 3 of 4 behalf of 'Facebook Inc.'.
6. Accordingly, names of 'Facebook Ireland', 'Facebook India Online Services Pvt. Ltd.'/defendant No. 5 and 'Instagram'/defendant No. 6 are deleted from the array of the parties.
7. Amended memo of parties be filed within one week.
8. On plaintiffs taking steps, notice now be issued to defendant No. 1 through all permissible modes including WhatsApp and E-mail.
9. List before the learned Joint Registrar on the date already fixed. I.A. 2986/2021 (Under Order I Rule 10 (2) CPC for Impleadment by the Plaintiffs)
1. The present application has been filed under Order I Rule 10 (2) read with Section 151 CPC on behalf of the plaintiffs seeking impleadment of 'Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology' and 'Department of Telecommunications' as defendants.
2. Issue notice.
3. Mr. Vikrant N Goyal, learned counsel for Union of India, who appears on advance notice, accepts notice in the application and seeks some time to file the reply.
4. Let the reply be filed within three weeks.
5. List the application on 25.03.2021.
MANOJ KUMAR OHRI, J FEBRUARY 26, 2021/ga Click here to check corrigendum, if any CS (OS) 68/2021 Page 4 of 4