New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Tuesday (September 16) sent notices to two media houses and a number of YouTube channels ordering them to take down a total of 138 videos and 83 Instagram posts that mentioned the Adani Group.These orders, the ministry stated in a letter dated Tuesday, was based on an ex parte order issued by the the North West Delhi district court on September 6 in a defamation case filed by Adani Enterprises.The court had told a number of journalists and activists including Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Ravi Nair, Abir Dasgupta, Ayaskant Das and Ayush Joshi to take down articles and social media posts that allegedly defamed the Adani Group.An ex parte order is issued when some parties to a case – in this case the journalists and activists involved – are not heard.Those who received notices from the information and broadcasting ministry on Tuesday, however, are not party to that case.The Wire too has been served this notice on Tuesday, for a solitary Instagram post that referred to allegations levelled by the US Securities and Exchange Commission against the Adani Group, which are matters of record.Others who have been included in the takedown orders are Newslaundry, Ravish Kumar, Ajit Anjum, Dhruv Rathee, Akash Banerjee aka Deshbhakt and others.Several of the videos flagged did not necessarily contain any new reportage or opinion. For instance, one of the Newslaundry videos that is listed is a subscription appeal that merely features a screenshot of an article about the Adani Group.The ministry’s letter states that the publications had failed to take action in the timeframe stipulated by the court order.“Accordingly, you are directed to take appropriate action for compliance of the aforementioned Order, and submit the action taken to the Ministry within 36 hours of the issue of this communication,” it reads.Copies of the notice were also marked to Meta Platforms Inc and Google Inc.The September 6 court order had been questioned because the judge had not heard all parties. At the time, senior civil judge Anuj Kumar Singh said that while he was concluding that the case passed the three-fold test for issuing ex parte interim orders, he would not issue a blanket order stopping the defendants from conducting “fair, verified and substantiated reporting”.Thakurta had responded to this decision by saying that he would continue to fight all seven defamation cases filed against him by the Adani Group in court.“I have full faith in the judiciary of India and remain confident that all the articles that I have authored or co-authored and all the statements that I have made are not just truthful and accurate but always in the public interest. I intend to vigorously contest the defamation claims made against me by Adani Enterprises Limited and will place my arguments before the court at the earliest opportunity,” he said in a statement.