The Madras High Court on Friday granted an interim stay of all further proceedings arising out of two orders of the State government granting sanction to file two defamation cases against DMK president M. Karunanidhi, DMK treasurer M.K. Stalin and S. Selvam, editor, printer and publisher of Tamil daily Murasoli .
Justice N. Paul Vasanthakumar gave the interim order on the petitions of Mr. Selvam.
The State government filed the defamation complaint in the Principal Sessions Court on August 10 against Mr. Karunanidhi and Mr. Selvam in connection with the publication of a news item criticising Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s stay at the Kodanad Estate in the Nilgiris while another case was filed on August 16 against Mr. Stalin and Mr. Selvam for the publication of a criticism made by the DMK leader.
Meanwhile, the government on Friday filed yet another defamation case against Mr. Karunanidhi for his statement criticising Chief Minister’s stay at Kodanad estate and also Mr. Selvamfor publishing his statement on August 4.
The complaint was filed on behalf of the Chief Minister in the Principal Sessions Court in Chennai.
Question-answer column
And the complaint pertained to a front page question-answer column published on August 4, which it deemed libellous.
