The Madras High Court on Friday granted an interim injunction restraining Minister for Milk and Dairy Development K.T. Rajenthra Bhalaji from levelling “baseless accusations of adulteration against private dairies in the State as a whole” and from making any statement or remark disparaging either of the three private milk sellers — who had approached the court seeking damages to the tune of ₹1 crore each from the Minister — or their products.
Justice C.V. Karthikeyan passed the interim order after taking strong exception to the Minister having “encouraged his advocate” to make disparaging remarks against the private milk sellers, without any substantiating document, despite a restraint order passed by the court on July 10.
“No one knows whom the defendant had meant in his press statements. But the statements are sufficient to damage the reputation of all private milk producing companies since all their products would be viewed suspiciously,” the judge observed.
“The statements extracted from the reports in the newspapers clearly reveal that the defendant had launched an all out attack on private milk and milk product producers. He had made very shocking revelations and it is up to him to justify the same. But the tenor of the statements indicates that unless there is an order of injunction, the pitch would only increase,” the judge said.
‘A vitriolic campaign’
“The defendant must realise that honest workmen employed by private milk companies, like the plaintiffs, would be the first sufferers of such a tirade of accusations. They would be direct victims if suddenly sales of privately manufactured milk and milk products fall and companies feel the pinch of such a vitriolic campaign.”
The judge said that the Minister had not produced any document to prove that he had concrete evidence of private milk dairies selling adulterated milk on the dates on which he made statements against them to the press.
If there are materials to justify the statements, they should be produced as legally admissible documents and the defendant must subject himself for cross examination, the judge said and directed Hatsun Agro Product, Dodla Dairy and Vijay Dairy and Farm Products to subject their milk and milk products for voluntary tests in accredited laboratories once in three months and file the reports in the court so that they could be used for final disposal of the civil suit.
