Defamation: The Samtse district court yesterday dismissed the petition that Penden Cement Authority limited (PCAL) had filed for defamation against Kuensel on two grounds.

A court official, over the telephone last evening, said that a case was already registered at the competent court in Kolkata, India on the issue related to quality of cement.  “Since it’s the same subject matter, the court could not admit the case, which is ongoing in another competent court,” the court official said. 

As per the rule of law, no new suit shall be filed when any matter is under sub judice before a competent court.

The other ground, according to the Samtse court official, was that the petitioner failed to submit substantive matter that warranted a petition to be registered as a case.  After the petition was submitted, the court has directed PCAL to submit and prove how Kuensel’s article had distorted the facts and gave false information. However, PCAL had not submitted these evidences.

“On these two grounds, the court dismissed the PCAL’s petition,” the court official said.

The PCAL on April 20 submitted a petition for defamation against Kuensel for maligning the company’s image in its April 9 story, “PCAL in deep water?”

In an earlier interview, PCAL’s legal and lamsoel officer, Tshering Dorji, said the company decided to go to court after the issue came up for discussion during their board meeting.

Tshering Dorji had said Kuensel did not verify the information it reported in the story, and that people have now started questioning the quality of Penden cement.

Tshering Dorji over the phone yesterday evening said that they couldn’t comment, as the company had not received the court’s dismissal order.

By Rinzin Wangchuk

Advertisement