Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group sues NDTV for Rs 10,000 crore over coverage of Rafale jet deal
New Delhi, Oct 18: Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group has sued news channel NDTV for Rs 10,000 crore in an Ahmedabad court for the channel’s coverage of the Rafale fighter jet deal, the channel said in a statement on Thursday. The lawsuit is filed against NDTV’s weekly show Truth vs Hype which aired on September 29.
The matter has been listed for hearing on October 26. NDTV said it will argue in court that the charges of defamation are “a heavy-handed attempt by Anil Ambani’s group to suppress the facts and prevent the media from doing its job – asking questions about a defence deal and seeking answers that are very much in public interest”.
The channel said top executives of Reliance Group had ignored multiple requests to appear on the show or comment on the matter. “The NDTV show reported all sides of the story including Dassault’s denial that it had been under any pressure to select Reliance,” it said in the statement. “The panellists, in a balanced discussion, examined whether issues like Reliance’s vast debt and record in defence manufacturing made it a suitable choice for Dassault in India.”
The Reliance group has been on a “notice-serving spree”, NDTV said. “To sue a news company for 10,000 crores in a court in Gujarat on false and frivolous charges, ignoring facts that are widely reported everywhere and not just by NDTV, can only be interpreted as an unsophisticated warning to the media to stop doing its job,” the statement read.
NDTV has been sued by Anil Ambani’s Reliance for 10,000 crores in an AHMEDABAD court. For our coverage of Rafale. We will fight this brazen attempt at harassment and intimidation.
— Suparna Singh (@Suparna_Singh) October 18, 2018
India and France signed a deal in 2016 for the delivery of 36 Rafale aircraft to the Indian Air Force. On July 20, Congress President Rahul Gandhi criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha, claiming they had not been truthful about the deal with France. Gandhi’s allegations were bolstered when former French President Francois Hollande claimed in September that the Indian government had proposed Reliance Defence’s name for the contract.
In August, the Reliance Group filed a Rs 5,000-crore civil defamation suit against the National Herald, alleging that an article published in the newspaper about the Rafale deal was “libellous and derogatory”, PTI reported. The group also served legal notices to spokespersons and leaders of the Congress party asking them to “cease and desist” from levelling allegations against it over the Rafale deal.
On Wednesday, a city civil court in Ahmedabad issued notice to Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh based on a civil defamation suit filed by Reliance Infrastructure Limited for his claims about the Rafale deal. Singh had referred to the controversial agreement as a “big scam”.
Courtesy: scroll.in
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Power tariffs under BESCOM to rise from May 1
Bengaluru (PTI): Power bills for consumers under the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) will go up from May 1, following an order issued by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on Friday.
The hike comes after KERC allowed the BESCOM to recover a revenue deficit of Rs 2,068 crore incurred in 2024-25, from the consumers.
As a result, for every unit of electricity consumed in 2024-25, the customers will be charged an additional 56 paise, it said.
"BESCOM shall calculate, for each of the active consumers of FY2024-25 the amount to be recovered based on their actual energy consumption during FY2024-25. Such amount shall be recovered during FY 2026-27 in equal monthly instalments, to be called as 'FY25 True up Charges', commencing from the first meter reading date falling on or after 1 May 2026 and concluding with the reading date ending on 30 April 2027," the order said.
"It is further ordered that BESCOM shall maintain a separate head of account, allocated for the purpose, to record the adjustment of the said amount to ensure full recovery of the deficit," it added.
Similarly Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (CESC) has also recorded a revenue deficit of Rs 121.71 crore and can collect an additional 15 paisa per unit for consumption in 2024-25, official sources said.
