The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the appeal of India Today Chairperson Aroon Purie against a criminal defamation complaint filed against him for an alleged defamatory article published in the magazine in 2007.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, however, refused to allow the plea of the journalist who had authored the alleged defamatory article in the India Today magazine.

"We have accepted the appeal preferred by Purie and dismissed the appeal by the journalist. We have allowed the appeal by public servants as well," said the CJI while pronouncing the verdict.

The defamation complaint was filed over a news article Mission Misconduct" published in the magazine and it has reported allegations against an Indian Mission official then posted in Edinburgh.

The new article had referred to some allegations against an Indian official allegedly seeking some favours and financial irregularities.