A Delhi court on Friday passed an ex parte order directing news platform Bloomberg to take down a news report which claimed that that Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had uncovered accounting hole of more than US $240 million at Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited [Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd v Bloomberg Television Production Services India Pvt Ltd & Ors].Additional District Judge (ADJ) Harjyot Singh Bhalla of the South Saket Courts passed the order and ordered Bloomberg to take down the article within a week.“In my view, the plaintiff has made out a prima facie case for passing ad interim ex-parte orders of injunction, balance of convenience is also in favour of plaintiff and against the defendant and irreparable loss and injury may be caused to the plaintiff, if the injunction as prayed for is not granted. In view thereof, defendant no.1 and defendant no.2 are directed to take down the article dated 21.02.2024 (page 84 to 86 of the plaintiff’s document) from online platform within one week of receipt of this order. The defendants are further restrained from posting, circulating or publishing the aforesaid article in respect of the plaintiff on any online or offline platform till the next date of hearing,” the Court ordered.The Court passed the order after Zee filed a defamation case against Bloomberg and its journalists Anto Antony, Saikat Das and Preeti Singh.The article was published by the news platform on February 21, 2024. It was titled “India Regulator Uncovers $241 Million Accounting Issue at Zee”.The story said that SEBI had “found a hole of more than $240 million in the accounts of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd”.Citing sources, Bloomberg had said that the market regulator has alleged that more than $241 million was missing from the Zee Entertainment accounts with no proper transaction history shown for the amount.However, Zee told the Court that the article was defamatory and the SEBI has not rendered any finding against Zee. They said that article claims that SEBI has unearthed large financial bungling when no such finding has been disclosed by the SEBI.Zee contended that an interim order dated June 12, 2023 and confirmatory order dated August 14, 2023 was passed by SEBI against one individual promoter and one key managerial personnel (KMP) of the company directing them to relieve themselves from holding any key managerial position in any listed companies or their subsidiaries.However, Zee was not issued any notice by the SEBI in the said proceedings, it was pointed out.It was further argued that the said orders were appealed before the Securities Appellate Tribunal by the said KMP and individual promoter and the KMP was awarded interim relief on October 30, 2023.
The Court was also told that because of the Bloomberg story, Zee’s investors have suffered economically as the stock price of the company fell by almost 15%.
After considering the case, the Court passed the take down order and issued summons to Bloomberg and its journalists.
The case will be heard next on March 26, 2024.
Advocates Vijay Aggarwal, Naman Joshi and Guneet Sidhu appeared for Zee.
TAGS: Delhi court ex parte order Bloomberg news report Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd Securities and Exchange Board of India
