ZARAI TARAQIATI BANK LTD. vs RIAZ ANJUM, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, "IN TIME" NEWS AGENCY Ss

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ZARAI TARAQIATI BANK LTD. VS RIAZ ANJUM, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, "IN TIME" NEWS AGENCY Ss. 3 & 9---Suit for recovery of damages on account of defamation/libel---State-owned entity as plaintiff---Person---Scope---Proof, absence of---Assertion of the plaintiff /Zarai Taraqiati Bank Ltd (Bank) was that the defendants (News Agency, Newspaper, printers and publishers), acting collusively, published a wholly false, baseless, defamatory and slanderous press story---Bank filed appeal against the order and decree passed by the Trial Court, whereby the suit filed by the Appellant /Bank was decreed only to the extent of Rs.100,000/- contrary to the claim in millions---Whether a suit for defamation/libel filed by a corporate entity (State-owned bank) was maintainable under the law?---Held: Appellant was a banking company, having status of public limited company and derived income by lending money to agriculturalists and related purposes---Therefore, the appellant was a State-owned bank, which operated as a corporate entity---Section 3 of the Defamation Ordinance, 2002,defines defamation as any wrongful act or publication of a false statement that injures the reputation of a “person”---Notably, the Defamation Ordinance, 2002, does not expressly exclude juristic or corporate persons from its ambit---Corporate entities, including banks, are recognized as “legal persons”, and may sue for defamation, if the statement in question is false, published with the requisite fault and tends to harm the corporation's reputation in a manner that affects its business, trade, or financial interests---Thus, the Bank (State-owned entity), could file suit under the provisions of the Defamation Ordinance, 2002---However, in the present case, the appellant failed to demonstrate from the available record/evidence that the appellant suffered harm to its financial interests, which in turn resulted in a loss of commercial reputation---Given the absence of evidence of serious financial loss, the appellant had failed to establish the cumulative elements required for a successful defamation claim by a corporate entity---The failure to prove any one element was fatal to the suit for defamation by a corporate entity, regardless of the presence of other elements---In the present case, the element of serious financial loss was lacking, which consequently resulted in the absence of loss of commercial reputation---Appellant could not prove its suit---Appellate / High Court, therefore, set-aside the impugned order and the decree and the suit stood dismissed---Appeal was dismissed.

ZARAI TARAQIATI BANK LTD. vs RIAZ ANJUM, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, "IN TIME" NEWS AGENCY Ss — 2026 CLC 896 ISLAMABAD

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