Delhi High Court directs Centre to respond to AAP's plea to allot land for its offices

Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought the Centre's response on a plea by the AAP seeking allotment of land in the national capital for construction of its offices, having been recognised as a national party.

Justice Subramonium Prasad issued a notice to the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the Land and Development Officer, asking them to file their replies to the petition.

The court listed the matter for further hearing on March 23.

According to the Centre's policies and the fact that land has been allotted to all other national parties for construction of office premises in central locations of New Delhi, it is incumbent upon the respondents to ensure that a similar allotment is made in favour of the petitioner, as per its entitlement, the AAP said in its petition.

The AAP claimed it is entitled to a total area of 1,000 square metres for construction of offices for its national and Delhi units in view of the policies issued by the Union ministry.

"The memorandum (of the Union ministry) dated July 13, 2006, clearly prescribes allotment of land up to 500 square metres to all national parties having up to 15 Members of Parliament in both Houses," the petition said.

"Further, it also provides for an additional allocation of land up to 500 square metres for Delhi state units where the national party has representation in the Delhi state legislature," it added.

The Arvind Kejriwal-led party has challenged the Centre's refusal to allot land to the AAP for construction of its national and state unit offices.

It said despite clear entitlement and the passage of almost six months since its recognition as a national party, it has been denied land for construction of its offices. The party called the move not only "arbitrary but also discriminatory".

"Such refusal is all the more egregious as the petitioner is a party in opposition and, hence, it is incumbent on the respondents to enable the full exercise of democratic freedoms by those in opposition instead of misusing their power to curtail such rights," the petition said.

"The refusal to allot land has placed the party at great disadvantage in comparison to other national parties and, thus, violates the very ethos of a democratic parliamentary system, preventing the party from functioning properly in the absence of proper office premises," it added.

The AAP sought a direction to the Union ministry to take necessary steps according to the law to allot to it a suitable land in New Delhi to enable the party to construct offices for its national and Delhi state units at the earliest.

It also sought a direction to the authorities to ensure that the land allotted is preferably in centrally-located areas of Delhi and free from encumbrances and encroachments so that construction of the offices can be commenced immediately.

The plea also sought quashing of June 26 and September 15 letters of the ministry by which the AAP's request for land were rejected.

Its request was rejected on the ground that no vacant land is available at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg or other centrally-located areas of Delhi for allotment.

The AAP said said the National People's Party, which was recognised as a national party as recently as 2019 with one member each in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, was allotted land at North Avenue for construction of its national party office.

Other national parties also currently have offices on land allotted in central locations, including Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg and Akbar Road, it said.