JAM a niche magazine published an article on IIPM (Indian Institute of Planning and Management scrutinising the claims made by IIPM in their full page advertisements

Gavrav Sabnis posted a story linking to this article on his blog and subsequently received a Legal Notice from IIPM. (read more for that letter)

The Notice will almost make you believe its a parody.. caution: Before you read it, put down any drink you are holding. You might spill it or worst, choke on it!

The IIPM execs handling this are in for a surprise. Obviously, they have no idea of the blogsphere domino effect nor do they seem to be aware of the consequences of getting into situations they can hardly control. Free speech and rights of expression are fiercely defended online - Blog authors in particular will go to any extent to defend them. The solidarity of authors to defend their rights to opinion is one platform that really unites across the board.

The IIPM lawyers haven't heard of the Blogosphere's victory over similar attempts to censure opinions elsewhere. If they had known that, they would have thought twice before dispatching that legal notice. If the IIPM continue to raise the ire of the Blogosphere, chances are that dedicated blogs will spring to point out anything from the myriad typos and grammatical mistakes on the IIPM website or their Dean's site to financial iregularities they unearthed and so on.
Instead, IIPM should immediately issue an Apology for threats against Gaurav Sabnis and post it publically on their website.

They have succeeded in publicising the JAM article far beyond the limited reach of that magazine. Their 'desperate' toned acknowledgement is as follows:

The articles have caused unfathomable damage to the reputation of IIPM and to its various operational areas.

Ad hominum attacks on the JAM magazine's editor and publisher, Rashmi Bansal are vindicative of the fact that the otherwise irrefutable article has indeed made an impact. Gaurav's questioning of the Arindam Chaudhuri, dean of IIPM's educational background is yet more damning beyond JAM's article.

So, we now have the first official victim of the Indian Blogosphere! Bhawahahaaa!

I hereby invite the IIPM's dumb attorneys and lawyers to serve me a similar legal notice that I can frame and hang it on my wall. Make it look good guys.. unlike the totally whaky advertisement you cookup in the Newspapers.

Oh yeah, a word about those advertisements: Rape of Aesthetics! so sue me!

From: Legal Cell, IIPM
Date: Oct 4, 2005 4:03 PM
Subject: Notarized first notice of legal summons
To: gaurav.sabnis@gmail.com
Cc: legal@iipm.edu



First Notice of legal summons to you
Warning: This email has been judicially notarized and has been tagged to validate receipt and response




Notice: IIPM/DZI1/2005/44

Date: 4th October 2005

Subject: False articles released by you on IIPM on blogspot.com (reference blogger.com)



I am the head of the legal and compliance counsel at The Indian Institute of Planning & Management (IIPM) New Delhi, India.



This notice is with respect to your releasing totally false articles about IIPM on the website blogspot.com (reference blogger.com) that has your clear reference and that has been released by you with proven deliberate and fraudulent intentions to harm the image of IIPM and related businesses. The articles have caused unfathomable damage to the reputation of IIPM and to its various operational areas. The articles further have affected innumerable future operations of IIPM. We have legally notarized and logged all the releases and are sending you this email to you as the first notice of proposed legal, judicial and criminal action against you that has already been approved & cleared by the Post Graduate Fellow Programme committee at IIPM. Even though the damage caused by your deliberate and fraudulent intentions cannot be calculated, the proposed filing would involve an immediate damage claim from you of Rs.125 Crores; apart from other various losses (including, but not restricted to opportunity losses, sales losses, legal costs and associated expenses). Corollary claims and subsequent parallel criminal and civil actions are being notified further on.



We are also providing your details to respective national and regional police authorities for undertaking and implementing immediate arrest warrants against you. We are also providing your details to various corporations within India and abroad to inform them about the judicial, legal and police action against you; thus ensuring that your details are well documented.




However, in case you undertake the following actions immediately, and provide evidence of such actions being completed by October 8th 2005, we shall formally withhold the abovementioned proceedings against you:



1. Immediately remove all articles related to IIPM from all domains under your purview, including but not restricted to the domains blogspot.com and blogger.com.

2. Immediately notify all your affiliate partners and other relevant websites to remove any links to any news of IIPM that they have received from you. You have to also ensure that these websites follow instructions as you would be held responsible for any continued display of the abovementioned item in question and future unapproved references to IIPM of any kind in any type of a media vehicle.

3. Immediately release an apology notice (after getting the text approved from our offices) on all domains under your authority that clearly mentions that you had mistakenly released the article and are withdrawing the same unconditionally. The same should also be sent to us.

4. Refrain in the future from releasing any news item containing IIPM's reference without the prior explicit written approval of IIPM.



Be warned, your telephone numbers, physical addresses thereon, login details, network access mechanisms have all been documented, notarized and legally ratified through google and blogspot.com, thus ensuring that any arrest warrants can be served and implemented on you within one day.



Your formal response shall be expected by the 12 noon (Indian Standard Time) of 6th October 2005 ; failing which, we shall proceed with the parallel arrest proceedings against you.



Regards,

A.Saxena
-----------------------------------------------------
President, Legal and Compliance Cell
The Indian Institute of Planning & Management
Level 0, IIPM Tower 1
B-27, Qutab Institutional Area
New Delhi - 110016, India
Phone: +91-11-51799900; Fax: +91-11-51799911
Email: legal@iipm.edu

====================

Claim of 125 Crores!! Will they put it in numbers like the Nigerian Spammers to produce the real 'impact'?

Refrain in the future from releasing any news item containing IIPM's reference without the prior explicit written approval of IIPM

.
Wow! What next? shut down the Internet?