HC orders National Herald publisher to leave Delhi premises in 2 weeks

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday ordered the publisher of Congress mouthpiece National Herald to vacate within two weeks its premises here, holding that there is no mala fide in the Centre's eviction order.

Dismissing the allegations of mala fide against the BJP government at the Centre as "preposterous", the court said the publisher Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) was "hijacked" by Young Indian (YI) company in which party chief Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi are majority shareholders.

The court gave the direction while dismissing the AJL's plea challenging the Centre's order to vacate the Herald House in the ITO area in the heart of the Capital.

In hard hitting observations in its 17-page verdict, the court held that the AJL has not provided any instances to support the serious allegations of mala fide levelled against the ruling dispensation, a reference to the BJP government at the Centre.

It said that AJL will have to vacate its premises within two weeks failing which proceedings under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1971, would be initiated for its eviction.

The AJL had alleged that the eviction order is vitiated by mala fide, bias and has been issued with oblique motives, which is a clear affront to Article 19 of the Constitution and that the ruling dispensation has adopted covert and overt measures to erase, efface and defame the legacy of Jawaharlal Nehru. See P5