High Court Judge Justice Lyone Seneviratne has refused the application to set aside the interlocutory judgement in the defamation case filed against Aman Ravindra Singh by Voreqe Bainimarama and Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.
Singh has also been ordered to pay costs of $2000.
Bainimarama and Sayed-Khaiyum had taken Singh to court for a social media post in 2018 and they alleged that the social media post defamed both of them.
An interlocutory judgement was made on the 27th of November 2018 as Singh failed to file a statement of defence.
On the 5th of this month, Singh made an application to strike out the judgement as it is irregular and defective.
Meanwhile, Bainimarama and Sayed-Khaiyum's lawyer, Devanesh Sharma had told the court that Singh failed to submit a statement of defence by the 14th of November 2018.
He had said Singh had ample time to submit an application to set aside the interlocutory judgement however he did not do so until 29th April 2019 and the rule is to submit it as soon as possible.
Sharma also told the court that Singh does not have an explanation as to why he took so much time to file a defence. The case will be called again on 5th June 2020.
