Wadia case reopened

The Bombay High Court (BHC) has reopened a defamation case dismissed 15 years ago by the Esplanade Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court. The case was filed in 1993 by industrialist Nusli Wadia against the now defunct newspaper The Daily, its managing editor Phiroze Dastur and reporter Rajiv Bajaj who had written that Wadia was a spy of a foreign country. Justice Abhay Thipsay, who set aside the earlier dismissal, directed the trial court to finish the case within a year as it was already an old matter, reported Mumbai Mirror (MM) on September 30, 2015.
The Esplanade Court had issued summons to the accused in August 1993 but the Court was unable to record evidence as both sides kept seeking adjournments.

Nusli Wadia: legal relief

On February 10, 2000 the magistrate dismissed the complaint on the ground that Wadia was not present, an order that the industrialist challenged in the BHC. "The imputations were of a serious nature and that the complainant would be seriously prejudiced if he is not allowed to prosecute the complaint against the accused persons,” his lawyer argued, as reported in the MM.
On examining the lower court’s records, the judge found Wadia’s submissions to be correct. "It appears that totally 29 adjournments were granted by the magistrate after the plea of the accused persons was recorded, and the case was kept for recording of evidence. It is on the 30th date given, i.e. February 10, 2000 that the accused came to be acquitted,” Thipsay stated. The BHC also noted that Wadia had been granted exemption from appearing in 1999, the penultimate hearing before the case was dismissed, and that no specific observation had been recorded that further adjournments would not be granted, reported MM.
In his order Justice Thipsay observed: "When so much latitude was being shown to the parties by the learned magistrate, as is evident from the fact that he freely entertained the requests for adjournments of the case, and did not insist on the complainant proceeding in the matter, the complainant could not have anticipated that on a given date, the accused would suddenly be acquitted on the ground of his absence.”
Wadia has also received relief from the BHC on October 30, 2015 in another legal wrangle with Ferani Hotels, a Raheja Group entity, over the development of a 350-acre plot in Malad, reported Hindustan Times on November 1, 2015. He had sought information under the Right to Information Act from the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) regarding property documents and plans, which was strongly objected to by the Rahejas and consequently not provided by the BMC. Wadia took up the matter with the State Information Commissioner who overruled the order of the BMC. Ferani Hotels then approached the BHC challenging this. The BHC however, rejected their plea saying that their submissions were not well founded. It ruled that "the RTI (Act) is a legislation which confers an independent legal right and … matters in the purview of the Act are required to be tested only on the parameters provided under the Act.” Disagreements between the parties "cannot override what the legislature would intend by providing the legislation.”