Delhi HC orders National Herald publisher AJL to vacate Herald House, dismisses plea against earlier order

The Delhi High Court on Thursday ordered National Herald publisher Associated Journals Limited to vacate the Herald House on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in Delhi. The Associated Journals Limited (AJL) had appealed against a single judge’s order on 21 December, 2018, asking it to vacate the premises. The court had then given the AJL two weeks to vacate, after which eviction proceedings would have begun under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971. The order had come on AJL’s plea challenging the Centre’s order to vacate the building. The Centre had ended its 56-year-old lease and asked AJL to vacate the premises, saying no printing or publishing activity was going on and the building was being used only for commercial purposes. [caption id=“attachment_5772531” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of the Delhi High Court. PTI[/caption] A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice VK Rao rejected the appeal. The Court, however, has not clarified the time within which AJL has to leave the building, reported ANI. The AJL had argued that it wished to begin operations to start printing out of the premises, but the Court held the Centre’s stand that as printing had stopped much before, to occupy the premises would be illegal, reported News18. AJL argued that the transfer of a majority of the shares of the company to Young India, did not automatically make Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi (who are shareholders of Young India) owners of the building. But the bench refused to accede to that. On 18 February, the bench had reserved its order after hearing the arguments of the Centre, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, and AJL, represented by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi. He had also contended that the Centre had never raised the issue of lack of printing activity at the Herald building prior to June 2018, by when publishing of some of its online editions had already commenced. The Centre, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, had argued that the government had allocate the land in question to AJL on lease for printing press and this “dominant purpose” was stopped several years ago. The single judge of the Delhi High Court had also said that by transfering 99 percent of AJL’s shares to Young India, the beneficial interest of AJL’s Rs 413.4-crore property stands “clandestinely” transferred to Young India. The Centre had contended before the court that transfer of stake to Young India, which bought over the Rs 90-crore debt for a consideration of Rs 50 lakh, led to a “virtual” sale of the Herald building. With inputs from PTI