NEW DELHI, June 21 -- The Delhi high court has directed the Union government to take down viral posts falsely claiming that Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, several Supreme Court judges and Union ministers had travelled to London earlier this month to participate in a badminton tournament at public expense, observing that such false information brought disrepute to judicial institutions. A vacation bench of justice Tejas Karia on Friday observed that the posts were on the face of it, false, malicious and derogatory to the judiciary, the executive and the sport of badminton. "The continued circulation and dissemination of such content has a direct bearing on the reputation of these institutions and, if not restrained forthwith, is likely to erode public confidence in the justice delivery system," it observed. The court was hearing a plea filed by the Badminton Association of India (BAI) which sought removal of social media content alleging that a large Indian delegation comprising senior judges and ministers had attended a badminton event in the United Kingdom. Even as the Centre, through Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, argued that the posts being circulated on social media were "completely false and misleading" and sought to create a "fabricated narrative"around the visit, Justice Karia at the outset, indicated that the Union government was empowered to act against such social media intermediaries spreading such information....