Chandigarh Club: 2 restrained from giving vilifying statements against club head

A local court has restrained Kawaljit Singh Walia , a resident of Sector 36-B, Chandigarh, and Navneet Modi, a resident of Sector 15-A, Chandigarh, from issuing defamatory, false, unverified unauthenticated statements on their social media accounts against Sandeep Sahni, president, Chandigarh Club, and Sunil Khanna till further orders.

Sahni and Khanna filed an application under Section 39 (rules 1 and 2) of CPC read with Section 151, CPC, for grant of ad-interim injunction against the defendants through counsel Sunil Toni and Rohit Khullar. The counsel said that Sahni was the president of Chandigarh Club for many years and Khanna was a former president and contesting for the president post of Chandigarh Club. They added that the two were immensely respect among the members/staff of the club. They alleged that the defendants levelled false allegations against them in social media and newspapers.

They prayed before the court that the defendants be restrained from publishing and circulating the defamatory, false, unverified statements on their social media accounts as well as in the newspaper and other print media. Further, the defendants be directed to remove the defamatory statements/contents on their social media accounts as the same had caused immense damage to their reputation.

After hearing the arguments the court said that along with the present suit, the plaintiffs had placed on record the extracts of a publication in a newspaper and a letter written to the Advisor to the Administrator, UT.

“In view of the averments made in the present case, the documents attached herewith, this court is of the considered opinion that the very purpose of filing the present suit will be defeated if no ad-interim injunction order is passed in favour of the plaintiffs at this stage as they apprehend that their reputation can be harmed. Accordingly, the defendants are hereby restrained from issuing any defamatory, false, unverified and unauthenticated statements on their social media accounts till further orders,” the court order said. It also adjourned the hearing to November 11.

Fair poll demanded

A free and fair election to the executive committee of the Chandigarh Club, scheduled to be held on November 16, has been demanded. In a letter to election observer Mahesh Grover, former Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and returning officer Chetan Mittal, senior advocate, Punjab and Haryana High Court, Anurag Chopra, who is contesting for the post of vice-president, has demanded use of EVMs. He stated that the election process should be supervised by an independent, third party agency appointed by the observer or presiding officer.