DTC bus purchase: 'Why aren't you removing defamatory tweets'

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Tuesday asked BJP MLA Vijender Gupta why he was not removing the alleged defamatory tweets he made against the city's Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot claiming irregularities in procurement of 1,000 low floor buses by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC).

A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh asked the counsel for Gupta to take instructions from his client about whether he still wants to keep the tweets or remove them.

"Why don't you remove the tweets, your purpose has been achieved. What you wanted to do has been achieved. The question is why should these tweets remain? Are you getting any comments on it now? Please get instructions on this. Your purpose has been served," the bench told the counsel for Gupta.

Gupta's counsel said he will return with the instructions at the next hearing.

The high court, which was hearing an appeal by the AAP leader against a single judge order declining to grant him interim relief on his defamation lawsuit against Gupta, listed the matter for further proceedings on January 16, 2023.

During the hearing, the counsel for Gahlot argued that Gupta made "scandalous" tweets and urged the court to direct him to delete them from social media during the pendency of the suit.

"There is absolutely a no-corruption policy (in the government). This is all scandalous. You are not happy with our policy, criticise us but you have no right to do our character assassination," he contended.

The court also issued notice to Facebook, which is a party in the matter, and asked Gahlot's counsel to file process fees to enable the notice to be served to the social media platform.