Delhi High Court - Orders
Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing ... vs Rishabh Kaushal & Ors on 4 June, 2021
Author: C.Hari Shankar
Bench: C.Hari Shankar
$~16(Original Side)
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ CS(COMM) 273/2021, I.A. 7242/2021, I.A. 7243/2021, I.A.
7244/2021 & I.A. 7245/2021
GUJARAT COOPERATIVE MILK MARKETING
FEDERATION LTD & ANR. ..... Plaintiffs
Through: Mr. Chetan Sharma, Sr. Adv.
With Mr. Abhishek Singh, Mr.
Amit Gupta, Mr. Vinay Yadav,
Mr. Akshay Gadeock, Mr.
J.Amal Anand, Ms. Aakanksha
Uthaiah, Ms. Divya Kumra &
Mr. Sahaj Garg, Advs.
versus
RISHABH KAUSHAL & ORS. ..... Defendants
Through: Mr. Ashim Vachher & Mr.
Pawash Piyush, Advs. for
NTPC
Mr. Parag P. Tripathi, Sr. Adv.
With Mr. Tejas Karia, Mr. Ajit
Warrier, Mr. Gauhar Mirza, Mr.
Shyamal Anand, Ms. Malikah
Mehra, Mr. Thejesh Rajendran,
Advs. for D2
Mr. Deepak Gogia & Mr. Jithin
M George, Advs. for D3
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE C.HARI SHANKAR
ORDER
% 04.06.2021
(Video-Conferencing)
I.A. 7243/2021(under Section 149 of CPC, 1908 - for exemption)
1. Subject to the petitioner depositing the requisite court fees Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:SUNIL SINGH NEGI CS(COMM) 273/2021 Page 1 of 6 Signing Date:09.06.2021 16:03:47 within two weeks of lifting of lockdown, exemption is granted for the present.
2. The application stands disposed of.
I.A. 7244/2021(under Section 151 of CPC, 1908- for exemption)
1. Exemptions allowed, subject to all just exceptions.
2. These applications stand disposed of.
I.A. 7245/2021(under Section 151 of CPC, 1908- for exemption)
1. Subject to the petitioner filing legible copies of any dim or illegible documents on which he may seek to place reliance, within four weeks from today, exemption is granted for the present.
2. The application stands disposed of.
CS(COMM) 273/2021
1. Issue summons. Summonses are accepted on behalf of Defendant Nos. 2 and 3 by Mr. Gauhar Mirza and Mr. Deepak Gogia respectively. Let summons issue to Defendant No. 1 at the Facebook and Twitter IDs of Defendant No. 1.
2. Written statement, accompanied by affidavit of admission and denial of the documents, filed by the plaintiff, be filed within four weeks, with advance copy to learned counsel for the plaintiff, who may file replication thereto, if any, accompanied by affidavit of Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:SUNIL SINGH NEGI CS(COMM) 273/2021 Page 2 of 6 Signing Date:09.06.2021 16:03:47 admission and denial of the documents filed by the defendants, within two weeks thereof.
3. List before the Joint Registrar for completion of pleadings, admission and denial of documents and marking of exhibits, on 23rd August, 2021.
4. Additionally, the defendants are directed to forward, to the Registry of this Court, in an encrypted form, the e-mail ID of Defendant No. 1 (if available), within four days, whereupon the Registry shall also effect service of the notice along with the order passed today at the e-mail ID.
5. The plaintiff is aggrieved by the acts of Defendant No. 1 in disparaging the plaintiff and its activities, on the social media accounts of Defendant No. 1. The details of disparagement are set out in Paras 41 to 52 of the plaint.
6. My attention has also been invited to an earlier order passed by a coordinate Bench of this Court on 17th December, 2020, in CS (COMM) 556/2020, where, in similar circumstances, this Court had issued ex parte ad interim directions to Defendant No. 1 (in that case), to remove the allegedly injurious articles contained in its webpages and social media accounts. The averments, in the present plaint, as contained in Paras 41 to 52 of the plaint indicate that, as in CS (COMM) 556/2020, Defendant No. 1, in the present case, is also indulging in similar disparagement of the plaintiffs' activities and its products, prima facie, without due justification. The cascading effect, Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:SUNIL SINGH NEGI CS(COMM) 273/2021 Page 3 of 6 Signing Date:09.06.2021 16:03:47 on the public consciousness of such representations, cannot be gainsaid, especially given the reputation which, over a period of decades, the plaintiff has amassed.
7. In my view, therefore, the plaintiff would be entitled to an ex parte ad interim order as prayed in this application. Accordingly,
(i) Defendant No. 1 is directed forthwith to suspend the following social media accounts/ web pages: Instagram Account namely "Rishabh (V) (@iamvegain)", Facebook Account namely "Rishabh Kaushal", Twitter Account namely "@iamvegain" and to remove, therefrom all material, which is injurious to the plaintiff's reputation,
(ii) Defendant No. 1 is directed to suspend, forthwith, the URLs mentioned in Paras 56 and 57 of the suit, in case they are still in existence or have not been deleted,
(iii) Defendant No. 1 is restrained from dealing with the plaintiffs' "Amul", trademarks, logos, advertisements, or any word confusingly or deceptively similar thereto, and
(iv) Defendant No. 1 is restrained from uploading, on any other web page or social media account, any material which would be defamatory of the plaintiff or containing materials similar to that reflected in Paras 41 to 52 of the present plaint.
8. For the present, these ad interim orders should suffice to protect the plaintiff's interest.
9. The prayers for other ad interim reliefs would be considered later at an appropriate stage.
Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:SUNIL SINGH NEGI CS(COMM) 273/2021 Page 4 of 6 Signing Date:09.06.2021 16:03:4710. These orders shall remain in force till the next date of hearing and shall be subject to variation or modification by this Court.
11. In as much as the directions have been passed ex parte against Defendant No. 1, the plaintiff shall also comply with the requirements under Order XXXIX, Rule 3 qua Defendant No. 1, within two weeks from today.
I.A. 7242/2021(under Order XXXIX, Rules 1 and 2, read with Section 151 of the CPC, 1908 - seeking ad interim ex parte relief)
1. Issue notice. Notice is accepted on behalf of Defendant Nos. 2 and 3 by Mr. Gauhar Mirza and Mr. Deepak Gogia respectively. Let notice issue to Defendant No. 1 at the Facebook and Twitter IDs of Defendant No. 1, as provided in the memo of parties. Additionally, the Registry shall issue notice of this application to Defendant No. 1 at the e-mail ID of Defendant No. 1, if available with Defendant Nos. 2 and 3, to be provided to the Registry, in an encrypted form within a period of four days from today.
2. At this juncture, learned counsel for Defendant Nos. 2 and 3, submit that the specific URLs of Defendant No. 1 would be required, as the plaint only discloses the URLs of the infringing posts.
3. Mr. Abhishek Singh, learned counsel for the plaintiff, undertakes to furnish requisite URLs to the defendants during the course of the day.
Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:SUNIL SINGH NEGI CS(COMM) 273/2021 Page 5 of 6 Signing Date:09.06.2021 16:03:474. Mr. Tripathi and Mr. Gogia submit that no service would be possible at the Indian addresses provided against Defendant Nos. 2 and 3 in the memo of parties and that they would have to be impleaded at their United States addresses which are also provided.
5. Accordingly, the Indian addresses provided against Defendant Nos. 2 and 3 in the memo of parties, shall be treated to be deleted from the memo of parties.
6. These directions shall remain in force till the next date of hearing or till otherwise varied or modified by this Court.
7. Accordingly, re-notify on 2nd September, 2021, before Court.
C.HARI SHANKAR, J JUNE 4, 2021 ss Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:SUNIL SINGH NEGI CS(COMM) 273/2021 Page 6 of 6 Signing Date:09.06.2021 16:03:47