The Madras High Court on Monday, April 1, 2024, decided to frame on April 15, issues to be decided in a civil suit filed by incumbent Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in 2019, demanding damages of ₹1.10 crore from Ananda Vikatan publications for having reported that lottery baron Martin Santiago donated ₹500 crore to the DMK towards election funds.
Justice C.V. Karthikeyan asked the plaintiff’s counsel to come prepared with answers to two significant questions: whether the alleged defamation had been committed against the political party, or the plaintiff in his individual capacity, and whether the party’s bylaws authorised its president to file a suit on behalf of it if the defamation had been committeed against it.
The judge made it clear that he does not want the plaintiff’s counsel to file any draft issues before him since it was the duty of the court to frame the issues after hearing the parties concerned. The judge asked the counsel to go through the plaint carefully and come prepared to answer the questions to be posed by the court at the time of framing of issues.
