[Goa Bar controversy] Delhi High Court says restaurant, land not owned by Smriti Irani or daughter, no license ever issued in their name

The Delhi High Court has held that there are no documents on record to show that Union Minister Smriti Irani or her daughter Zoish Irani were ever issued any license for the restaurant, Silly Souls Café and Bar in Goa or that they even applied for it. .The Court further said that it has been established that they are not the owners of the restaurant and bar which has been in the eye of the storm after the opposition alleged there are illegalities in the Bar license of the restaurant. "Neither the restaurant nor the land on which the restaurant exists is owned by the plaintiff or her daughter even the show cause notice issued by the Government of Goa is not in the name of the plaintiff or her daughter," the Court said in its order. .Justice Mini Pushkarna said that she is of the prima facie view that slanderous and libellous allegations have been made against the minister and her daughter without verifying the actual facts to garner viewership, thereby, subjecting her to great public ridicule. The observations form part of the order passed by the Court on July 29 granting interim relief in favour Irani against Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera and Netta D'souza..The Court in its order, therefore, directed the three leaders to remove defamatory material on social media against Irani and her daughter in relation to the recent controversy.The Congress leaders had held a press conference on July 23 and made allegations against Irani's daughter, Zoish Irani in relation to a restaurant run by her in Goa.As per the allegations, the restaurant and bar had renewed its liquor license in the name of a deceased person.Irani had then filed a defamation suit before the High Court contending that the allegations are false and defamatory and are continuously being watched and commented by people on public platforms.Irani sought an ex-parte interim injunction against the Congress leaders and a direction to the social media companies to take down or remove the allegedly defamatory allegations as well as the video of the press conference.The Court in its order directed that the video of the press conference be deleted from all the social media platforms. "In the event defendant Nos. 1, 2 & 3 (Congress leaders) fail to comply with the directions as hereinabove within 24 hours of pronouncement of this order, defendant Nos. 4 to 6 (social media companies) are directed to take down the tweets and other materials on the URLs as well as other tweets which may appear in the plaint thereof," the Court ordered. .Irani was represented through Senior Advocates Neeraj Kishan Kaul, Rajiv Nayar and Pinky Anand and DSK Legal's partners Kirat Singh Nagra, Kartik Yadav and Pranav Vyas, Principal Associate, Manhar Saini and Associates Sumedha Chadha and Hardik Jain.Appearance was not given for the Congress leaders. Senior Advocate Dayan Kirshnan along with advocates Saransh Jain, Ankit Agarwal, Shloka N, Shaurya Rai, Sanjeevi and Sukrit appeared for Twitter. .[Read Order]

[Goa Bar controversy] Delhi High Court says restaurant, land not owned by Smriti Irani or daughter, no license ever issued in their name

Prashant Jha

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