The case established the principle that only persons responsible for the selection of defamatory matter or having personal knowledge about the contents could be prosecuted for defamation, emphasizing the balance between freedom of speech and the right to protect one's reputation.

( 1 ) A person is identified by his name. His name may have no value to society but would be precious to the person concerned. A good name is better than great riches. Shakespeare"s Othell o, Act III, Scene 3,167:

"good name in man and woman, dear my lord, is the immediate jewel of their souls; who steals my purse, steals trash; "tis something, nothing; "t was mine, "tis his, and has been slave to thousands; but he that flinches from me my good name, robs me of that which not enriches him, and makes me poor indeed. "

( 2 ) LAWS of defamation aims at protecting the name and goodwill of a person in society.

( 3 ) BACKDROP facts giving rise to the present petitions are that in the year 2000 the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against some employees of DDA who were allegedly involved in a housing allotment scam. Smt. Usha Ravichandran, Senior Personal Secretary to Commissioner (Personnel)was also accused of being involved in the scam. Thereafter, all the employees booked as accused by CBI including Smt. Usha Ravinchandran were suspended. (Usha ravichandran was suspended on 16. 11. 2000)

( 4 ) SUBSEQUENTLY, on 15. 6. 2001 suspension of Smt. Usha Ravichandran was revoked and she was reinstated. It is pertinent to note that Smt. Usha ravichandran was the only suspended employee to be reinstated.

( 5 ) ON 4. 5. 2001, a news item appeared in the New Delhi edition of the newspaper "navbharat Times". English translation of said news item reads as under: -

"resentment AMONGST THE EMPLOYEES OF DDA OVER REVOCATION OF SUSPENSION OF USHA ramchandran senior Correspondent, New Delhi. There is a grave resentment among the employees of DDA over the news of revocation of suspension of Usha Ramachandran, Private Secretary to Commissioner (Personal) DDA who is accused of bungling to the tune of several crores in allotment of DDA flats. The CBI conducted raids in the month of November last year at the offices and residential premises of several officers of DDA including this woman employee. A huge amount of cash, document relating to DDA houses were recovered from the possession. CBI had registered a case against these officers after the recovery of this property. According to leaders of the employees it is improper to revoke the suspension of only one accused out of seven accused persons by the officers of DDA without obtaining permission from CBI. They alleged that this has been done at the behest of high level political recommendation. According to sources this file has been sent to Chief Vigilance Officer of DDA on Thursday evening after taking decision to revoke the suspension of Usha ramchandran. Now orders in this regard have to be issued from there. According to sources that, being aware of the mysterious aspects of this matter all the officers of DDA are reluctant to take decision on revocation of suspension of Usha Ramchandran and of becoming a party to this decision, but they are being forced to do this by pressure of above. "

( 6 ) ON 21. 6. 2001, a news item appeared in the daily edition of the newspaper "hindustan Times". Said news item reads as under: -

"scam-tainted DDA staffer gets her job back aruna P. Sharma new Delhi, June 20 a DDA employee facing Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in connection with housing scandal, which broke out last year, has been reinstated. The orders revoking suspension have been issued despite opposition from the CBI officials who were yet to complete their inquiry and finalise report. The personal secretary of Commissioner, Personnel, Usha Ravichandran is the only employee under investigation who has been reinstated while others continue to be under suspension. The CBI had raided the premises of Usha and a number of employees last november in connection with fraudulent allotment of flats and illegal refunds. She along with Ashok Kapoor, personal Secretary to the then Vice chairman, Director Housing V. K. Shinged and others were suspended following