DDCA defamation suit liable to be rejected: Kejriwal to HC

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has moved the high court here seeking rejection of the defamation suit filed by cricketing body DDCA against him and suspended BJP MP Kirti Azad for their alleged remarks about its functioning and finances.

Arvind Kejriwal

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor has sought rejection of the suit by Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), claiming it is not maintainable as the alleged defamatory statement "does not contain any imputation concerning any persons whose identity can be established".

The plea by Kejriwal was listed on Tuesday before Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw who could not take it up and scheduled it for September 25.

The application by the AAP leader, filed through advocate Anupam Srivastava, claims the suit was liable to be rejected as it does not disclose any cause of action.

"This suit is a clear breach of the principles of common law on the law of defamation stating that a corporation cannot sue for the alleged crimes which cannot be committed by a corporation.

"A corporation cannot sue in respect of an imputation of murder, or incest, or adultery, or sexual harassment because it could not commit those crimes. Hence, the plaint is liable to be rejected on the same ground," the application said.

It also said that even if it is defamation of the officers of the DDCA, it does not amount to defamation of the cricketing body itself.

The DDCA and its former treasurer Ravinder Manchanda, who jointly filed the suit, have sought Rs 2.5 crore each from Kejriwal and Azad as damages for the allegations against the cricketing body regarding financial irregularities and corruption in selections at the junior level.

They have claimed in their plea that the allegations were "maligning the image" of the cricket body.

The DDCA has said that "the action of defendants (Kejriwal and Azad) have severely damaged the credibility and reputation of the cricketing body in eyes of thousands of cricket lovers, citizen of India as well as internationally".