The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a petition filed by Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited (MEIL), challenging the Telangana High Court verdict that removed an interim media restraint order granted in favour of MEIL.
The Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta further directed the trial court to complete the pending defamation case within two years.
On May 28, 2025, the Telangana High Court had set aside an ex parte interim order that restrained several media organisations from publishing or sharing material allegedly defamatory to MEIL. These included digital news platforms, television channels and newspapers that were defendants before the trial court at Kukatpally.
MEIL had filed a civil suit before the trial court seeking damages for defamation and a mandatory injunction against a series of news reports published in 2022. The reports had alleged financial wrongdoing, political favouritism, and corruption involving the company and its management, including allegations related to the Mana Ooru–Mana Badi government project.
The company had also been in public focus after its name appeared among major corporate donors disclosed under the now-scrapped electoral bonds scheme.
On December 2, 2022, the trial court granted an ad interim ex parte injunction to MEIL, restraining the media defendants from publishing, circulating, uploading, or broadcasting any content said to be defamatory to the company.
Several media organisations challenged this order before the Telangana High Court, which allowed their appeals and termed the trial court verdict a ‘gag order’.
The Division Bench of Justice T. Vinod Kumar and Justice P. Sree Sudha held that such blanket restrictions amounted to prior restraint on the press and had a chilling effect on free speech. The right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution could be restricted only on the limited grounds listed under Article 19(2), observed the High Court, adding that broad and open-ended orders preventing the media from publishing news were unconstitutional and disproportionate, except in rare cases involving threats to national security or the fairness of a trial.
It further held that MEIL had approached the court almost a year after the first publication, which weakened its claim for urgent interim relief. It said the petitioner had filed a suit seeking damages rather than a simple defamation action, which was relevant while considering whether an immediate injunction was necessary.
During the course of proceedings, the High Court found that MEIL had not disclosed that it had already filed a similar suit before the District Judge at Khammam against comparable publications. This non-disclosure amounted to suppression of material facts and an abuse of the legal process. Therefore, MEIL was not entitled to discretionary interim relief, it ruled.
The Supreme Court agreed with the High Court’s reasoning and refused to interfere with its decision. While protecting the media from prior restraint, the Bench directed the trial court to ensure that the defamation case was decided within a fixed timeframe, balancing the company’s right to reputation with the media’s right to free expression.
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