Bloomberg's Appeal Against Zee Report Removal: Delhi High Court Reserves Ruling
The Delhi trial court had ordered Bloomberg to take down the article on March 1.
The Delhi High Court on Thursday reserved its judgment on Bloomberg's appeal against a trial court order of removal of a news report that alleged a $241 million accounting irregularity at Zee Entertainment was uncovered by SEBI.
Bloomberg, in its submission, contended that the trial court order lacks reasoning, emphasising it as an "unreasoned order."
It also highlighted that a portion of the order is a mere narration of facts and expressed that the order to remove the news report should have been issued only after both parties had been allowed to be heard.
Additionally, Bloomberg defended the contents of the news report by asserting that the information it contained was already in the public domain.
On the other hand, Zee Entertainment claimed that the article contained unsubstantiated claims. The company emphasised that the information within the report is attributed to individuals with insider knowledge rather than being derived from publicly available information.
Zee further submitted before the bench that in such cases where an ex-parte order is passed, the rightful authority to approach is the trial court itself and the high court is not to be bothered for such instances.
As per Zee’s counsel, the article implies the discovery of accounting irregularities as a conclusive finding, but drew attention to the fact that SEBI had not responded to queries in the story.
Additionally, it was submitted that Zee Entertainment was yet to be heard on the matter and hence the article was defamatory in nature.
Background
Earlier on March 1, a Delhi court had issued an order directing Bloomberg to remove the article. Zee had argued that it was not afforded the opportunity to present its side during the SEBI proceedings.
The company further contended that the article contained "unverified claims" and improperly linked Zee Entertainment to the SEBI orders.
The court acknowledged that the information in the article was purportedly sourced from anonymous individuals and highlighted that SEBI had not officially disclosed any significant financial irregularities.
