Bengaluru court directs former PM Deve Gowda to pay Rs 2 cr damages for defaming NICE

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], June 22 (ANI): A Bengaluru court has directed former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda to pay Rs 2 crores to Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) Ltd for the "loss of reputation".
The NICE had filed an original suit against the statements made by the former PM in an interview with a news channel in 2011.
Referring to the interview telecast by a Kannada news channel on June 28, 2011, the court directed Deve Gowda to pay damages of Rs 2 crores to the company for "the loss of its reputation on account of defamatory comments made by him".
The court observed that the project in question has been upheld by the High Court of Karnataka and the Supreme Court in their judgments.
The project undertaken by the company is a massive one that is in the larger interest of Karnataka, the court said in the June 17 order.
"Hence, if defamatory statements like the present one are allowed to be made in future, definitely, implementation of such a massive project like the present one, which is undertaken in the larger public interest of the State of Karnataka, is going to be delayed," the court observed.
"Therefore, this Court feels that it is necessary to curb such statements by issuing a permanent injunction against the defendant," it added in the order.
The company claimed that it sustained a loss to its reputation due to the statements made by Deve Gowda in the interview and claimed damages of Rs 10 crore. (ANI)