JUDGMENT :

M.R. Verma, J.

In this suit the plaintiffs have prayed for a decree for Rs 10,00,000/- as compensation for defamation and mandatory injunction directing the defendants to publish apology in all the leading vernacular and English Dailies.

2. Case of the plaintiffs, as made out in the plaint is that the plaintiffs are seeking the relief on account of defamation and damage caused to the image and reputation of the plaintiffs and other members of their respective Associations by the defendants by publishing a defamatory news item in the daily newspaper "The Statement" dated 26.5.1998. It is averred that the plaintiffs are in the service of the State Government of Himachal Pradesh for over many decades and as public servants have long record of distinguished and selfness service and are holding the key posts in the Organisation and Associations of their respective services. They possess good reputation, good character, moral and exemplary service record and are well known to the public and various Associations and are having good reputation within and outside the State. Defendants No.2 is the Editor-in-Chief of the Statesman which is being published by defendant No.4. The said Newspaper has wide circulation inside and outside the country. The defendants deliberately published a news item under the caption "HIGHLY PAID GOVT. EMPLOYEES DRAIN HIMACHAL EXCHEQUER", in the issue of the Statesman dated 26.8.1998 which item is offensive, obnoxious and smacks of the malice and mischief intended to tarnish the reputation of the plaintiffs and their other brother officials and is based on conjectures and surmises in utter disregard of the standards of journalistic norms and ethics and abuse of freedom of publication. The said news item has been compiled by defendant No.3 at the behest of other defendants and the origin of the news item is `Statesman News Service'. Because of the publication of the said news item the plaintiffs and their family members have to face embarrassing situation and have to hear disparaging remarks from the passer-by while going to public places such as market etc. The defendants who had designedly and calculatedly published the item with underlying mischief in damaging the reputation and image of the plaintiffs by using the terms "Babus", "Pot-belled Babus", `Petty Babus' etc. which has lost its literal meanings over the period due to disparaging sense and meaning attached to it by the media. The news item has depicted the defendants (plaintiffs') as corrupt `Babus' who have to be in Bars and Restaurants and offered women which facts are far from truth. The news item has thus caused immeasurable mental as well as physical agonies to the plaintiffs and their family members. The cumulative direct effect of the said act of publication of news item by distorting the facts was to ruin the career and reputations of the plaintiffs and obliterate all their contributions to the society and in administration. It has been mischievously and maliciously mentioned in the news item that there is a pressure on developmental/activities because of the pay being granted to the employees in the State of Himachal Pradesh. Referring to the political activities of the employees, as recorded in the news item, it has been claimed that the facts and the truth is that the employees are disciplined and law abiding members of the Government governed by various codes of conduct and rules etc. The use of terms like "Babus" in efficiency and indiscipline, the employees being most under worked army of clerks. K "Petty Babus" ands "Corrupt Pot Bellied Babus", as used in the news item vis-a-vis the plaintiffs and their co-employees are derogatory and uncivilized. It is also claimed that the systematic attack of the employees is highlighted in Column 3 of the news item whereby baseless and wild allegations to the effect that a young* executive of a leading Private Cement Plant, had claimed that he had regularly B bribed the employees to get his