PANAJI
The Congress may have pushed its onslaught on the controversial Silly Souls Cafe and Restaurant controversy to the back-burner on the political front but in the courts, its leaders are showing no signs of backing off and are taking the fight up to Union Minister Smriti Irani.
Before the Delhi High Court where Irani has sued for libel, three of the Congress' top leaders -- Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera and Netta D'Souza -- have made identical claims. They have accused Irani and her family members themselves making ownership claims about the restaurant and argued that they (Iranis) cannot "turn around" when those claims are relied on to ask legit questions.
Irani has sought damages damages of Rs 2 crore through the civil defamation suit in the Delhi High Court accusing the three Congress leaders of making allegations against her and her daughter in relation to the Cafe and Bar.
The Ramesh-Khera-D'Souza trio have said at least three of these claims are documented but Irani's submissions in the suit "conspicuously" refrains from mentioning them.
The Congress leaders had alleged that Irani's daughter and family own the restaurant which is facing charges of obtaining licences by abuse of power in a BJP-ruled Goa. They had also demanded Irani's resignation from the Union Council of ministers or her sacking.
The matter of the illegalities in the excise licence of the venture, meanwhile, is challenged before the Goa Excise Commissioner by lawyer-activist Aires Rodrigues and is now fixed for further adjudication on September 12.
Rodrigues has alleged that the excise licence was renewed in the name of a dead person. Other allegations relate to the violations of land-use laws.
Earlier in July, the Delhi High Court following Irani's suit had issued summons to the three Congress leaders and also directed them to delete all allegations made by them.
The Congress leaders in their reply to the High Court have also accused Irani of basing her suit on suppressions and "egregious misrepresentations" and added that she has come to the court with "unclean hands".
They have also sought that the High Court's interim order be vacated and questioned Irani's plea for a blanket immunity from questions seeking probity in personal dealings.
"It must also be pointed out that till date, the Plaintiff has refused to offer clarifications or answer these questions. To say that only investigative authorities can ask such questions would represent a complete erosion of transparency, a fact which the Plaintiff will agree with given her history of raising such issues as well," the three Congress leaders further said in their reply filed in the Delhi High Court through lawyers.
Irani is seeking mandatory and permanent injunction against the Congress leaders from levelling further charges against her and also that the various allegations already made be deleted from social media platforms -- Twitter, Youtube and Meta.
