Delhi High Court - Orders
The Film And Television Producers Guild ... vs Arg Outlier Media Pvt. Ltd. And Ors on 9 November, 2020
Author: Rajiv Shakdher
Bench: Rajiv Shakdher
$~1
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ CS(OS)No.337/2020 & I.A.Nos.10251-52/2020
THE FILM AND TELEVISION PRODUCERS GUILD OF INDIA
AND ORS. .....Plaintiffs
Through : Mr. Rajiv Nayar and Mr. Akhil Sibal,
Sr. Advs. along with Mr. Mohammad
Nizamuddin Pasha, Mr. Anand Desai,
Ms. Chandrima Mitra, Mr. Kirat
Singh Nagra, Mr. Parag Khandhar,
Mr. Kartik Yadav, Advs.
Ms. Neela Gokhale, Mr. Ameet
Mehta, Mr. Pradip Bhat, Ms. Priya
Dave and Ms. Shruti Dixit, Advs. For
P-2.
versus
ARG OUTLIER MEDIA PVT. LTD. AND ORS. .....Defendants
Through : Ms. Malvika Trivedi, Mr. Mrinal
Ojha, Mr. Vasanth Rajasekaran, Mr.
Debarshi Dutta, Mr. Rajat Pradhan,
Mr. Siddhant Kumar and Ms. Kajri
Roy, Advs. for D-1 to 4.
Mr. Sandeep Sethi, Sr. Adv. with Mr.
Kunal Tandon, Mr. Sidhant Kumar,
Mr. Shashank Shekher and Mr.
Amandeep Singh, Advs. for D-5 to 7.
Mr. Kapil Sibal, Sr. Adv. with Mr.
Ajit Warrier, Mr. Gauhar Mirza and
Ms. Malikah Mehra, Advs. for D-9.
Mr. Tejas Karia, Ms. Nayantara
Narayan and Mr. Thejesh Rajendran,
Advs. for D-10.
CS(OS)No.337/2020 page 1 of 5
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
By:VIPIN KUMAR RAI
Signing Date:10.11.2020
14:58:23
Mr. Sajan Poovayya, Sr. Adv. with
Mr. Saransh Jain, Ms. Shloka
Narayanan, Mr. Tejpal Singh Rathore
and Mr. Pratibhanu S. Kharola, Advs.
For D-11 to 13.
Mr. Arvind K. Nigam, Sr. Adv. With
Ms. Mamta R. Jha, Ms. Shruttima
Ehersa and Ms. Sakshi Jhalani, Advs.
For D-14 and 15.
Mr. Aditya Gupta, Mr. Raunaq
Kamath and Ms. Aishwarya Kane,
Advs. For D-16.
Mr. Kunal Tandon, Mr. Chetan Roy
and Mr. Amandeep Singh, Advs. For
D-17 to 20.
Mr. Hrishikesh Baruah and Mr.
Pranav Jain, Advs. For D-21 to 24.
Mr. Jatinder Kumar Sethi and Mr.
Ashutosh Kumar Sharma, Advs. For
D-25 to 28.
Ms. Ritwika Nanda, Ms. Petal
Chandhok and Mr. Saurav Baveja,
Advs. for D-29 & 30.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJIV SHAKDHER
ORDER
% 09.11.2020 [Court hearing convened via video-conferencing on account of COVID-19] I.A. No. 10252/2020
1. This is an application filed by the plaintiffs under Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 [in short "CPC"] seeking exemption not only from filing original and certified copies of certain documents but also from filing legible copies of dim annexures.
CS(OS)No.337/2020 page 2 of 5 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:VIPIN KUMAR RAI Signing Date:10.11.2020 14:58:23
2. The application is allowed, subject to the plaintiffs filing legible copies of dim documents within two weeks from today. Insofar as exemption from filing original and certified copies of the documents is concerned, the plaintiffs will place the same on record as and when they are directed to do so by this Court.
CS (OS) No. 337/2020 & I.A. No. 10251/2020
3. Mr. Kapil Sibal, learned senior counsel, who appears on behalf of defendant no. 9/Facebook Inc. and defendant no. 10/Facebook India Online Services Pvt. Ltd., says that defendant no. 10/Facebook India Online Services Pvt. Ltd. may not be a necessary party, as the directions, if any, issued by the Court, will be complied with by defendant no. 9/Facebook Inc. 3.1 The statement of Mr. Sibal, which is made on instructions, is taken on record.
3.2 Accordingly, defendant no. 10/Facebook India Online Services Pvt. Ltd. is deleted from the array of parties.
3.3 Likewise, Mr. Sajan Poovayya, learned senior counsel, who appears on behalf of defendant no. 11/Twitter Inc., defendant no. 12/Twitter Communications India Private Limited, and defendant no. 13/Twitter International Company, says that defendant no. 12/Twitter Communications India Private Limited and defendant no. 13/Twitter International Company are not necessary parties as the directions, if any, issued by the Court, will be carried out by defendant no. 11/Twitter Inc. 3.4 The statement of Mr. Poovayya, which is made on instructions, is taken on record.
CS(OS)No.337/2020 page 3 of 5 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:VIPIN KUMAR RAI Signing Date:10.11.2020 14:58:23 3.5 Accordingly, defendant no. 12/Twitter Communications India Private
Limited, and defendant no. 13/Twitter International Company are deleted from the array of parties.
3.6 Besides this, Mr. Aditya Gupta, who appears on behalf of defendant no. 16 i.e. Google India Pvt. Ltd., says that the entity which ought to have been arrayed, if at all, as a party to the instant proceedings, should have been Google LLC having the following address:
"Google LLC 1600, Amphitheatre Parkway in Mountain View California, United States."
3.7 It is noticed that Google LLC is already arrayed as defendant no. 15 albeit with a different address. Accordingly, as prayed, defendant no. 16 i.e. Google India Pvt. Ltd. shall stand deleted from the array of parties. Furthermore, Google LLC, which is already arrayed as defendant no. 15, will have the address given in paragraph 3.6 above shown against its name. 3.8 Besides this, given the fact that the Google LLC is a party to the instant proceeding, defendant no. 14 i.e. YouTube LLC can be deleted from the array of parties, as prayed.
3.9 It is ordered accordingly.
4. Learned counsel for the plaintiffs will take into account the directions issued hereinabove with regard to the aforementioned parties and file an amended memo of parties within five days from today.
5. I have heard learned counsel for the parties for a fair bit of time.
6. Issue summons in the suit and notice in the captioned application.
CS(OS)No.337/2020 page 4 of 5 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:VIPIN KUMAR RAI Signing Date:10.11.2020 14:58:23 6.1 Learned counsel for the defendants, whose names are given
hereinabove, accept service on behalf of the parties they represent. 6.2 The written statements in the suit and replies to the captioned application will be filed within two weeks from today. Replications and rejoinders thereto, if any, will be filed before the next date of hearing.
7. Learned counsels for defendant nos. 1 to 4, defendant nos. 5 to 7, defendant nos. 17 to 20, defendant nos. 21 to 24, defendant nos. 25 to 28, and defendant nos. 29 to 30 have given an assurance to the Court that they will follow the programme code which is drawn-up under the framework provided by the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and rules framed thereunder i.e. The Cable Television Network Rules, 1994. 7.1 The assurance given by the learned counsels for the aforementioned defendants is taken on record.
7.1 Furthermore, defendant nos. 1 to 4, defendant nos. 5 to 7, defendant nos. 17 to 20, defendant nos. 21 to 24, defendant nos. 25 to 28, and defendant nos. 29 to 30 will ensure that no defamatory content is uploaded on the social media platforms administered by them or is displayed/broadcast on their respective news channels.
8. List the matter on 14.12.2020.
RAJIV SHAKDHER, J
NOVEMBER 09, 2020
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CS(OS)No.337/2020 page 5 of 5
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
By:VIPIN KUMAR RAI
Signing Date:10.11.2020
14:58:23