The Delhi High Court witnessed an animated battle between Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani as…
The Delhi High Court witnessed an animated battle between Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani as the duo indulged in a day-long session of questions and answers in connection with a defamation suit filed by Jaitley against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Appearing for Kejriwal, Jethmalani cross-examined the union minister with a barrage of questions in a jam-packed court and at one stage, brought out a dictionary in the court room and asked Jaitley to explain the difference between "goodwill" and "reputation".
Despite the onslaught of questions, Jaitley remained calm and answered all questions without losing his cool. Jethmalani, who was expelled from the BJP, wondered if Jaitley's "personal feelings of greatness" were behind the defamation suit.
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The finance minister explained that "my view about my own reputation was based on what my friends, well-wishers and other people both privately and in media, had expressed an opinion on this subject."
Several issues were covered by the two senior lawyers including the CBI raid on Delhi government's senior bureaucrat Rajendra Kumar in December 2015 as well as Chetan Sanghi's report on DDCA affairs.
When asked if he made any efforts to reverse the alleged damage, Jaitley replied: "I contradicted the allegations in the media and also in Parliament where echoes of these allegations were raised."
On the Rs.10 crore demanded as compensation by Jaitley, Jethmalani pointed out that the minister didn't seem to have suffered any monetary damage.
The minister responded: "The value I placed, towards loss of my reputation was only a small part of the enormous damage done… the loss of my reputation has been partly quantified in terms of money. Loss of reputation causes mental distress to the person defamed, which it did in my case".
"Considering my stature, background and reputation, the loss caused to me and my reputation was so enormous that it was considered unquantifiable," he added.
The hearing will continue on Tuesday.
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