On the 5th of April, the Supreme Court stayed the proceedings and eviction notice against the Associated Journals Limited (AJL,) the publishers of the newspaper The National Herald, till further notice.
The AJL, on the 28th of February, was asked to vacate the Herald House by an order issued by the Centre’s Land and Development Office (L&DO) and upheld by the Delhi High Court.
The eviction was issued by the Centre on the grounds the AJL was not doing any printing or publishing activity for a while now. The Centre wanted to end the 56 year old permanent lease and asked the AJL to leave the building.
The Centre further claimed, since no printing or publishing activity was happening, the AJL was required to hand over the possession of the building by the 15th of November last year.
The Centre also said, since 99 % of the shares of the AJL were transferred to Young India, a charitable organisation of which Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi are major stakeholders, it no longer served its original purpose.
Furthermore, the Centre also added, there were debts worth Rs. 90 crores, which the AJL owes to the Indian National Congress (INC.) This money was built up on an initial amount of Rs. 50 lakhs.
The Delhi High Court, while summarising the case, said, “We have no hesitation in holding that the entire transaction of transferring the shares of AJL to Young India was nothing but, as held by the learned writ Court, a clandestine and surreptitious transfer of the lucrative interest in the premises to Young Indian.”
Fighting on behalf of the AJL, senior advocate A.M. Singhvi said, just because the shares were transferred to the Gandhis, it doesn’t mean they are now the owners of the Herald House. Fighting against the eviction, advocate Sunil Fernandes stated, the eviction was issued because of an anti Gandhian agenda.
He also said, the online versions of The National Herald, Navjivan (Hindi) and Urdu’s Qaumi Awaz (Urdu,) have been in the works since 2016 and 2017. Furthermore, since the resuming publication of The National Herald On Sunday in 2017, there is no doubt the Herald House is being used for publication and printing purposes.
Listening to all the agreements, the Supreme Court, on the 5th of April, stayed the eviction order passed by the Centre and the Delhi High Court.
Stay tuned for more updates.
