Defamation case in Singapore: SC issues notice on Subramanian Swamy's plea challenging Madras HC order

The Supreme Court on Monday decided to examine a plea by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy against the Madras High Court's order which allowed a firm to proceed with a defamation suit filed against him before the Singapore High Court.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta issued notice to Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt Ltd on the appeal filed by Swamy.

Senior Advocate Vibha Datta Makhija, appearing for Swamy, said that the matter is at a precarious stage now as the stay has been vacated by the High Court. The bench orally said the Singapore entity would not proceed against Swamy in the meanwhile. It also sought to know bonafide of the company

The court fixed the matter for hearing after six weeks.

Swamy challenged validity of the April 18 order of a division bench of the high court which set aside an interim injunction granted against the company by a single judge in 2014.

The company was aggrieved by the allegations made by Swamy in a press meet in New Delhi on April 26, 2012 during which he had reportedly commented on the alleged irregularities in the 2G spectrum allocation and the Aircel-Maxis deal.

Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited issued a legal notice to him and thereafter its Singapore subsidiary by the same name initiated the defamation proceedings in the Singapore High Court.

Swamy had filed a contempt of court petition in the top court, saying he could not be dragged to courts for having filed 2G-related cases in the apex court.

The petition was dismissed on September 10, 2013.

The UPA 2 government led by Manmohan Singh was rocked by a major scandal involving a presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore in the allocation of 122 2G (second generation) spectrum licences to telecom companies.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had pulled up the government for allocating the licences at old prices and without following the profitable competitive bidding process.

All the accused in the case, including the then telecommunications minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi were, however, acquitted in the case in December 2017 by a special court in Delhi which said the prosecution failed to prove the charges against them beyond reasonable doubt.

The Delhi High Court has decided to hear appeal filed by the CBI and the ED against the acquittal on a day to day basis from August 28.