Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: August 2, 2022 at 19:43 IST
The Delhi High Court has observed that Union Minister Smriti Irani and her daughter Zoish Irani are not the owners of Silly Souls Café and Bar, a Goa restaurant that was the subject of controversy last week.
Justice Mini Pushkarna said that the court has perused the various documents filed on record by Irani, particularly the Show Cause Notice issued by the Commissioner of Excise in Goa to Anthony D’gama. The Iranis have not issued a license for the establishment, according to the Court as well.
The controversy started when Zoish Irani’s restaurant got a show-cause notice from Goa Excise Commissioner Narayan M. Gad. After hearing rumours that Irani’s daughter had gotten an illegal liquor license for the restaurant on July 23, the Congress sought her resignation.
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader sent a legal notice to Pawan Khera, Jairam Ramesh, and Netta D’ Souza of the Congress the following day for raising allegations against her daughter.
The Court on the basis of notice received ordered the Congress leaders to take down any allegedly defamatory social media posts about Iranis within 24 hours. Further the Court also issued notices on the three leaders asking them to respond to the Union minister’s civil defamation lawsuit. The Court’s whole order was made public.
Justice Mini Pushkarna had observed “Considering the documents on record, it is clearly seen that no license which was ever issued in favour of the plaintiff or her daughter,”. “The plaintiff or her daughter are not the owners of the restaurant. It has also been established by the plaintiff prima facie that she or her daughter never applied for a license.”
According to Zoish Irani’s counsel Kirat Nagra, his client neither owns nor operates the restaurant. Additionally, Nagra stated that his client had merely done an internship with the Silly Souls Cafe chef.
Congress leader Khera referenced a Moneycontrol article in which food critic Kunal Vijayakar had reviewed the restaurant and identified the minister’s daughter as its owner; Irani had disputed ownership of the business. Smriti Irani posted the review to her Instagram account and expressed her pride in it by saying “so proud”.
