New Delhi, Jul 29 (PTI) The Delhi High Court Friday heard several matters including BJP leader Smriti Irani's civil defamation suit in which summonses were issued to Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera, and Netta D'Souza who were asked to take down tweets and other social media posts on allegations levelled against the union minister and her daughter.

Irani, the Minister for Women and Child Development, has sought damages of over Rs 2 crore from the Congress leaders for allegedly making baseless and false accusations against her and her 18-year-old daughter.

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The high court further passed an order on a lawsuit by a media house against online news portal Newslaundry for allegedly ridiculing and defaming its news broadcast and anchors through its content.

It refused to grant any interim relief to the plaintiff media house and dismissed its application for an interim injunction.

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The high court said the right to comment on content on social media or TV channels is a facet of free speech under the Constitution and it will be in the interest of the public that every broadcaster has the right to criticism and review even concerning programmes created by others

The high court also sought the stand of the Delhi Police on JNU student Sharjeel Imam's plea seeking interim bail in a 2020 riots case involving allegations of sedition.

It issued notice on his appeals challenging the trial court order refusing to release him on interim bail and staying the ongoing proceedings in the case.

The high court dismissed a petition challenging the regulation prescribing a minimum 50th percentile in the National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test (NEET) as a mandatory requirement for admission to post-graduate medical courses, saying there cannot be any compromise on the issue of quality of doctors as it involves a risk to human lives.

The high court granted time to its administrative side to file a status report on the number of criminal cases pending before it involving sitting or former MPs and MLAs.

It was hearing a plea initiated by it on the direction of the Supreme Court to all the high courts to monitor pending criminal cases against MPs and MLAs.

In another case, it also set aside an order of the Deputy Conservator of Forests putting in abeyance the permission granted to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for transplantation of over 600 trees for the construction of stormwater drain at Dwarka's sector-8 to cater to water discharge from the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

The court allowed the plea by DDA seeking permission for transplantation of 637 trees and felling of 56 others and asked the Deputy Conservator of Forests to supervise the felling or transplantation of trees by DDA for its project.PTI SKV ADS

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)