HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Monday rejected the plea for issuance notice to IAS officer Smita Sabharwal on petitions challenging the decision of the Telangana government in extending financial assistance to meet her legal expenses in a defamation case against the management of ‘Outlook’ magazine.
The bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Dilip B Bhosale and Justice S Ravi Kumar was dealing with two PILs filed separately by K Eshwar Rao and Vattsala Vidyasagar and a writ petition by Outlook Publishing (India) Pvt Ltd challenging the GO issued by the government on Aug 28, 2015 sanctioning `15 lakh to Smita Sabharwal, additional secretary in Chief Minister’s Office, for payment of court fee and expenses for filing a civil suit seeking damages of `10 crore against the management of Outlook magazine for publishing of a news report along with a cartoon allegedly to defame her.
When the matter came up for hearing, the counsels for the petitioners insisted for issuance of notice to the officer contending that it was not proper for the government to extend financial assistance to an officer who is filing the case in her individual capacity.
Reacting to the submissions, the bench made it clear that unless and until it felt prima facie in the case then only it can issue the notice to the officer. It further said that it is of the opinion that there was nothing wrong in extending the financial assistance to an officer whenever the government felt that its image suffered a dent due to the publication of a report.
The bench pointed out that the government generally authorizes an officer to move a case before any of the courts, and in this case the respondent herself is an aggrieved party besides the government.
When the counsel for the magazine told the bench that they had also moved a quash petition and it is pending before a single judge for the orders, the bench said that let them wait till outcome of the petition and adjourned the case by four weeks.