Delhi High Court Today (May 30) said it will hear Saket Gokhale’s plea to cancel a Rs 50 lakh ex parte defamation order. The matter is scheduled for the first week of July due to court workload.
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NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court quickly looked into a legal request by Trinamool Congress leader Saket Gokhale. He has asked the court to cancel a previous ex parte order — a decision passed without hearing his side — in which he was told to pay Rs 50 lakh as damages and also issue a public apology to former diplomat Lakshmi Puri in a defamation case.
The matter was heard by the bench of Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Renu Bhatnagar
Senior Advocate Amit Sibal, who appeared for Gokhale, told the court that they are challenging the earlier rejection of his application under Order 9 Rule 13 of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC). This section allows a person to ask the court to cancel a decision if it was passed without giving them a chance to speak.
ALSO READ: Delhi High Court Warns TMC Leader Saket Gokhale: “Apologise to Lakshmi Puri or Face Jail”
Sibal also pointed out that another related application is pending. It asks the court to forgive the delay in filing the main appeal.
During the hearing, Sibal suggested that the apology Gokhale has to give could include a note explaining that an appeal is still pending.
He said,
“The apology can include a note about the pending appeal.”
But Justice Chawla did not agree with this idea. He clearly said that such an apology would not be valid.
Justice Chawla said,
“That wouldn’t count as a proper apology. Unacceptable.”
To support his case, Sibal also read out the legal text of Order 9 Rule 13 of CPC, which provides a legal way to set aside ex parte decrees in appropriate situations.
After hearing the arguments and seeing that the court was very busy, the judge postponed the case. The court said it would hear the matter properly in July.
The court said:
“We will have it in the first week of July, there is a lot of rush today.”
Senior Advocate Amit Sibal with advocate Naman Joshi represented Gokhale.
Senior Advocate Maninder Singh represented Puri.
PREVIOUSLY IN DELHI HC: “Apologise to Lakshmi Puri or Face Jail”
The Delhi High Court on May 28 gave a serious warning to Trinamool Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale. The court asked him to explain why he should not be sent to civil jail for not saying sorry to former Indian diplomat Lakshmi Puri.
Gokhale had made negative and defamatory posts about her on social media.
Earlier, in 2024, the High Court had already decided that Gokhale’s tweets were defamatory. It had ordered him to pay Rs 50 lakh to Lakshmi Puri as compensation. The Court also told him to publish an apology in the Times of India newspaper and on his X (formerly Twitter) handle.
But Gokhale did not follow these orders. So, Lakshmi Puri filed two more petitions in the High Court. One asked the court to make sure its orders were carried out. The other asked for contempt of court action against Gokhale for not obeying the directions.
Recently, when the contempt case came up, the bench refused to accept Gokhale’s offer to submit an apology letter in a sealed envelope. The Court clearly told him to publish the apology in the newspaper within two weeks.
Now, during a hearing on Puri’s execution petition, Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora showed strong displeasure. Gokhale’s lawyer said that he had no instructions from his client.
The Court became very strict and commented that Gokhale seemed to be making fun of the legal process.
“[With] the stand of the Judgement Debtor (Gokhale) in not complying with the orders and extended timelines to comply, it almost appears to the court that he is mocking at the Court and its process,”
-said Justice Arora.
Lakshmi Puri is the wife of Hardeep Singh Puri, who is Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas. In 2021, she had filed a case against Saket Gokhale after he accused her on social media of buying expensive property in Switzerland, allegedly beyond her known sources of income.
In July 2021, the Court had passed a temporary order asking Gokhale to delete those tweets and not post anything else defamatory about the Puri family.
Later, in July 2024, the final judgment was passed. Gokhale was directed to pay Rs 50 lakh in damages and issue an apology as earlier mentioned.
But Gokhale didn’t accept this judgment quietly. He filed an application asking the Court to cancel the damages order. On May 2, 2025, the High Court rejected this application and confirmed its earlier decision.
After that, Lakshmi Puri once again approached the Court to make sure the July 2024 judgment was followed. In a recent hearing, the Court had also ordered a part of Gokhale’s salary to be attached since he had not paid the Rs 50 lakh damages.
Today, the lawyer representing Gokhale said he would provide the court with the details of the salary attachment process.
Meanwhile, Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, who is representing Lakshmi Puri, told the court:
“He [Gokhale] has not apologised despite orders. It is an apology for destruction of my reputation.”
The Court has now scheduled the next hearing in the case for September 3.
Senior Advocate Maninder Singh was briefed by Karanjawala & Company.
Advocate Naman Joshi appeared on behalf of Saket Gokhale.
CASE TITLE:
Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri v. Saket Gokhale
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