Jaggi Vasudev’s Isha Foundation has issued a legal notice to telecom service provider Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) on Saturday, August 27, to cease and desist from making any false statements and/or defamatory and offensive remarks and withdraw all such false, defamatory and misleading statements against the organisation.
The notice was sent after an order passed by the Madras High Court set aside the award granted in favour of Isha Foundation, in a case related to the non-payment of telephone bills due to the BSNL on August 12. The Isha Foundation, in a statement on Saturday, said that the media has been reporting that senior counsel representing BSNL in the case, P Wilson, made certain remarks against the organisation, and claimed that no such statements were made in court.
The statement claimed that such reportage was made “solely to tarnish the image of Isha Foundation”. “We hope that an organisation of the status of BSNL will understand the gravity of setting this false narrative and operate in accordance. Moving ahead, Isha Foundation is positive that the media will cover the proceedings of this case in an unbiased way, meticulously checking with - and quoting - all concerned parties”, it added.
BSNL had issued bills amounting to Rs 20,18,198 for the billing period between December 1, 2018, and December 31, 2018, and a bill for Rs 2,30,29,264 for the billing period of January 1, 2019, to February 1, 2019, to the Isha Foundation. The huge bills amounting to more than Rs 2.5 crore were challenged by the Isha Foundation before arbitrator Justice E Padmanabhan, who quashed the two bills. The BSNL challenged the arbitrators' verdict before the Madras High Court and secured an order in their favour.
Advocate P Wilson, while appearing for BSNL, argued that the ashram cannot deny the calls made from the exchange inside the premises, and that the institution cannot deny its liability on the ground that it has not made the calls. He argued that the arbitrator did not take into account several documentary evidence and instead passed on the judgment of quashing both the bills on the “words of a Yogi as if it was gospel truth”.
The ashram had argued that the private exchange inside the foundation was hacked and that there were no possibility of the ashram having made such a huge number of calls. The arbitrator had accepted the argument of the ashram and rejected BSNL's plea. Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy allowed the argument of BSNL and ordered a de novo enquiry by the arbitrator on the points raised by the telecom provider.