DMK President M Karunanidhi was today summoned by a court here to appear before it on October 10 in a defamation case filed by the Jayalalithaa Government.

Principal Sessions Judge P Kalaiarasan ordered issue of the summons to Karunanidhi and also to S Selvam, the Printer, Publisher and Editor of DMK's mouth piece 'Murasoli'.

The state government had on August 31 filed the defamation complaint against Karunanidhi for some remarks made by him about Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's stay in hilly Kodanadu and against Selvam for publishing them in "Murasoli", holding that the remarks were 'defamatory".

The court, however, returned another defamation complaint filed by the state government against English daily "Times of India" in connection with an article on alleged inaction of the government to prevent drunken driving, holding that it did not "contribute" anything against the Chief Minister.

Judge Kalaiarasan said "A deeper reading of the alleged offending article does not contribute anything against the Chief Minister of the state."

"The article has to be construed as a whole. The caption of the news article has to be seen in the light of substance of the article. Hence, how the complaint is maintainable – to be stated," he said and returned the complaint.