The Bombay High Court on Monday adjourned a case between Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and Zee News till October 30.
Hearing the case on the first day, Justice S.J. Kathawala ordered the news channel to submit an affidavit in reply to a defamation suit filed by Naveen Jindal-owned JSPL.
While Advocate General Darius Khambatta is representing the media conglomerate, senior advocate Rafiq Dada and Zal Andhyarujina along with Khaitan and Co are representing JSPL.
Khambatta argued before the court that the steel tycoon has made “reckless allegations and we will reply to all of them.”
On behalf of JSPL, Dada countered that despite being given correct documents, the channel ran stories based on erroneous facts.
Congress MP and Chairman of JSPL Naveen Jindal on October 25 had filed a Rs 200-crore defamation suit against Subhash Chandra, Puneet Goenka, Sudhir Chaudhary and Sameer Ahluwalia of Zee News and Zee Business.
Jindal, in a press conference on the same day, showed a video where the editors of the Subhash Chandra-led media group Zee News and Zee were allegedly seen demanding Rs 100 crore from the firm for not airing stories against it on coal block allocation.
Zee News on October 27 had filed a counter defamation suit of Rs 150-crore against JSPL alleging that the video had been doctored and that the steel maker tried to bribe the channel to stop airing any report on JSPL in the captive coal mines allotment case.
It also said that JSPL was deliberately trying to malign the channel as it had been in the forefront in covering the Coalgate scam, wherein Jindal’s company had been named.