CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has refused to review an earlier order of the court permitting renowned cricketer MS Dhoni to raise interrogatories to the television channel News Nation in connection with a Rs 100 crore defamation suit, which he filed in 2014 against News Nation, Zee Media and retired IPS officer G Sampath Kumar for linking him with the IPL match fixing controversy.
Justice AA Nakkiran passed the order on Friday to dismiss the application filed by News Nation. The TV channel had filed the application praying for reviewing the order passed in 2022 on the ground that the then counsel, without getting any instructions, inadvertently gave no objection for Dhoni to deliver the interrogatories (questionnaire), requiring answers on facts of evidence.
The counsel currently appearing for News Nation also submitted that the application has a good cause on merits against the application filed by Dhoni, seeking deliverance of interrogatories as it is an abuse of process of law. It was filed with a sole motive of prolonging the trial, counsel said.
He told the court that the nature of the interrogatories to be served to each of the defendants in the suit are different, and each of the application by Dhoni shall be decided on its own merits. However, Dhoni’s counsel submitted that the review is not maintainable unless there is an oversight on the face of the order or it undermines its soundness or results in miscarriage of justice. Citing a division bench’s order rejecting an application filed by the respondents in the defamation suit seeking to strike out the interrogatories, Justice Nakkiran held that in view of the observations of the division bench, the review application “is not at all maintainable.”