National Herald case: Delhi High Court tells authorities not to seal Herald House, adjourns hearing to 22 November

The Delhi High Court on Thursday told the authorities not to seal the Herald House in Delhi after the Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) claimed that they were being evicted, according to reports.  The court stated that the Herald House will not be sealed until a court order is given in the matter. The high court on Thursday adjourned the hearing in a plea filed by AJL challenging the Centre’s order asking it to vacate the Herald House, to 22 November, asking the authorities to maintain status quo till then. The publisher had approached the high court on Monday challenging the 30 October order of the Urban Development Ministry, ending its 56-year-old lease and asking it to vacate the premises in the press enclave at ITO in Delhi. During the hearing, the high court said it has not yet received the case file from the registry and it would not be able to hear the matter on Tuesday. [caption id=“attachment_5190641” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. PTI[/caption] The government reportedly inspected the premises a few months ago and found that the area allotted to AJL was not being used for the publication of the newspaper in the past 10 years. Advocate Sunil Fernandes, appearing for the AJL, said there was urgency in the matter as they have been asked to hand over the possession to the Centre by 15 November and they had received the order of the Land and Development Office (L&DO) on 30 October after which the courts were closed for vacation. The Central Government’s Standing Counsel Rajesh Gogna said they are initiating the process and if AJL does not hand over the possession of the premises to them they will re-enter. The AJL, which publishes the National Herald newspaper, has alleged that the government’s order dated 30 October was illegal, unconstitutional, arbitrary and a deliberate attempt to suppress and destroy the legacy of the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. It said the order was only a political witch hunt aimed at dismantling and destroying the voice of dissent and opposition parties. “…the impugned order is vitiated by malafides, bias and has been issued with oblique political motives. The proceedings have been initiated for the purposes of scuttling the voices of dissent and the voice of the largest opposition party in the country,” the plea read. “It is a clear affront to the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution and a deliberate attempt to suppress and destroy the legacy of the first Prime Minister of the country Jawaharlal Nehru, by the powers that be.” AJL had been publishing the newspaper for the last several decades. Although there was a brief temporary suspension due to financial trouble, the formal newspaper and digital media operations had fully resumed. The weekly ‘National Herald on Sunday’ was resumed on 24 September, 2017 and the place of publication is the Herald House, Delhi. On 14 October, the AJL resumed its weekly Hindi newspaper. The plea also apprised the court that the committee members which came for inspection did not visit the rooms where the printing press was installed along with the stock of papers.