Supreme Court stays National Herald eviction
The HC on Feb. 28 had dismissed a plea by AJL against an order to vacate Herald House premises.
New Delhi: In a huge relief to National Herald newspaper publisher Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), the Supreme Court on Friday stayed all further eviction proceedings pursuant to the Delhi high court order asking it to vacate Delhi’s Herald House as the publishing activity had ceased.
The Delhi HC on February 28 had dismissed a plea by the AJL against an order to vacate its premises Herald House. The Centre ended a 56-year-old lease and said there was no printing or publishing activity in the building and was being used only for commercial purposes.
A three judge bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna after hearing senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi for AJL stayed the HC order and the eviction proceedings.
The bench refused to accept the arguments of solicitor general Tushar Mehta opposing the stay. The CJI told the SG “the only question for determination is whether transfer of share holdings would amount to violation of the terms of lease agreement and we will examine this issue.”
The HC had affirmed an October 2018 decision of the Land and Estate Officer, Government of India directing AJL to vacate Herald House by November 15, 2018, after determining a perpetual lease agreement between the two.
The Centre had cancel-led the lease on the ground that the said premises were being used only for commercial purposes in violation of Clause III (7) of the Lease Deed, and that no Press has been functioning in the said premises for last 10 years.