Bloomberg vs Zee: Delhi HC reserves verdict on plea against order to take down Zee article
Presiding Justice Shalinder Kaur asked the parties to file their written submissions and reserved his judgement.
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The Delhi High Court has reserved its judgement on the pleas filed by Bloomberg against a trial court order that told it to withdraw the report that mentioned that SEBI had found $241 million in accounting irregularity at Zee Entertainment, reported Bar and Bench.
Presiding Justice Shalinder Kaur asked the parties to file their written submissions and reserved his judgement.
Bloomberg’s representative senior advocate Rajiv Nayar informed the court that the order passed by the trial court was without reason or prima facie finding.
“This is the most amazing order. No prima facie case made, balance of convenience, irreparable loss or hardship," he said as reported by Bar and Bench.
He added that Bloomberg is a reputed channel and media company and the judge presiding over the trial court didn’t hear the news platforms side of the case before publishing the order.
The matter pertains to the 'India Regulator Uncovers $241 Million Accounting Issue at Zee' article which was published by Bloomberg on February 21, 2024. The article said that SEBI had “found a hole of more than $240 million in the accounts of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd."
Zee had sued Bloomberg and its journalists Anto Antony, Saikat Das and Preeti Singh. A Delhi court had on March 1 passed an ex parte order directing Bloomberg to take down the news report.
ZEE filed the lawsuit against Bloomberg, arguing that the article contained false and misleading information about the company's corporate governance and business operations. The lawsuit claimed the article was published with malicious intent to harm ZEE's reputation, and resulted in a 15 percent drop in the company's share price, causing significant financial losses to investors.
“The article by Bloomberg, incorrectly published that Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has found a $241 million accounting issue at the Company; whereas there is no such order from the mentioned regulator. Despite the Company firmly refuting the same, the article incorrectly published financial irregularities in ZEE, without the basis of any order from the regulator,” said a media statement from Zee.
