The centre told the court that no press had been functioning at Herald House premises
Highlights
- The Supreme Court sent a notice to the centre
- Delhi High Court had ordered National Herald publisher to vacate office
- Centre had said that no press had been functioning in the premise
The publisher of the Congress-linked National Herald newspaper won't be evicted from its office in the capital for now, the Supreme Court said today, sending a notice to the centre.
The top court was hearing a request by the Associated Journals, the publisher of National Herald, to cancel a Delhi High Court order in February saying that it must vacate the office. The high court had rejected a request by Associated Journals to stop the government from taking any "coercive steps" to vacate.
During today's hearing, the government told the court that the "corporate veil" has to be seen in the case. To this, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who headed the bench, said, "It is just another case for us".
"The question we have to decide is whether the transfer of shares amounts to transfer of lease," the court said.
The government had told the high court in February that no press had been functioning in the premises for at least 10 years and it had been used only for commercial purposes, in violation of its lease. The government, in October last year, cancelled the publisher's 56-year-old lease for the building in Delhi's ITO and asked it to vacate Herald House.
On December 21, 2018, the Delhi High Court asked Associated Journals Limited to vacate the premises within two weeks, after which eviction proceedings would be initiated.
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had alleged that Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi - the Congress president - set up a company to buy debts worth Rs. 90 crore owed by Associated Journals, which publishes three newspapers including National Herald, founded by Jawaharlal Nehru - Rahul Gandhi's great-grandfather - before he became India's first prime minister.
In 2008, Associated Journals had shut down over its debts. The BJP alleges that the Gandhis used Congress party funds to pay off its debts even though the publisher has real estate assets worth thousands of crores.
In November last year, National Herald tweeted that it was being targeted by the BJP government for its growing digital presence.
Subramanian Swamy had filed a case in 2012 against then Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi, alleging irregularities related to a loan of Rs. 90 crore given by the Congress to the AJL.