Origin of butter chicken: Daryaganj moves Delhi HC against Moti Mahal's alleged defamatory remarks
legal dispute over who actually «invented» iconic Indian dishes butter chicken and dal makhani is heating up. Weeks after the Delhi High Court decided to adjudicate the dispute between two Delhi-based restaurant chains Moti Mahal and Daryaganj, some alleged defamatory remarks are now at the centre of a savoury battle.
Daryaganj has moved the high court against certain alleged defamatory remarks made by the proprietors of Moti Mahal in a newspaper interview on the issue of the origin of «butter chicken».
However, the owners of Moti Mahal have asserted that the remarks in question were an «editorial perspective» and cannot be attributed to them.
The food fight entered the legal arena after the Moti Mahal owners had filed a lawsuit in January claiming that their predecessor Late Kundan Lal Gujral had «invented» butter chicken and dal makhani and accused Daryaganj of «misleading people» on the origin of the two dishes.
Justice Sanjeev Narula asked the proprietors of Moti Mahal to submit an affidavit, affirming their effort to distance themselves from the statement in articles that have been published.
In its application, Daryaganj has raised concerns regarding the «defamatory» statements in the article — first published in the «Wall Street Journal» and then further circulated and replicated by other websites — saying they cause substantial negative impact on the restaurant's reputation.
The statements, it has been alleged, not only disparaged their business but also prejudiced a fair adjudication on the lawsuit,
