Former PM Deve Gowda asked to pay Rs 2 crore in defamation case

Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda have been asked by the Court to pay 2 crore in damages in a decade old case. A Civil and Session Court, Bangaluru directed him to pay damages to Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise Limited (NICE) in connection with a defamation case against him for statements he made in a television interview in 2011. The company has contended that Gowda, during the interview to a Kannada channel, levelled unnecessary and slanderous allegations against the company and its promoter and Managing Director Ashok Kheny.The order issued by judge Mallanagouda.

The company said that HD Deve Gowda accused the company of looting public money and also said that the BOOT project is actually a "loot project". The Janata Dal (Secular) leader also referred to NICE and Kheny as "land mafia", the company told the court. It sought Rs 10 crore in damages and a permanent injunction against Mr Gowda from making defamatory comments against the company.

Gowda's legal team cited the fundamental right of freedom of speech granted by the Constitution and argued that any opinion and fair criticism of any individual or organisation in its act concerning a public activity or an activity in which members of public have a vital concern cannot be restrained. The court asked Gowda to pay damages and also restrained him from making any such statement against the company in the future. "The defendant is permanently restrained from making any defamatory statements against the plaintiff Company in any media, news channel, T.V. channel or in any other means of mass communication in future," it added. The court concluded that Mr. Gowda had failed to substantiate his claim against the company, which was made during the interview.

The agreement for the infrastructure corridor project was signed in 1995 when Gowda was Karnataka Chief Minister. The consortium that was to build the project later passed on its rights to NICE. Since 2004, Gowda has been alleging that the infrastructure firm has illegally acquired land in excess of what had been agreed upon. The company is building the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project, a mega integrated infrastructure project and one of the largest Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) projects in India.