AJL told to vacate premises in Delhi

new delhi — Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), publisher of Congress mouthpiece National Herald, was on Friday directed by the Delhi High Court to vacate its premises in the national capital within two weeks.

The High Court dismissed AJL’s plea challenging the Centre’s order to vacate its premises.

The Centre and Land and Development Office (L&DO) have said in their order that no Press has been functioning on the premises for at least past 10 years and it was being used only for commercial purposes in violation of the lease deed.

The AJL had denied the allegations in the petition filed in the high court.

However, Justice Sunil Gaur rejected the contentions of the AJL challenging the Centre’s October 30 order ending its 56-year-old lease.

The High Court said the AJL will have to vacate the premises at ITO here within two weeks after which proceedings under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1971 would be initiated.

The court had reserved its decision on AJL’s plea on November 22.

The Centre said that all the procedures have been followed before issuing the notice. The AJL had opposed the Centre’s stand, saying that publication of web editions began in 2016 and the issue of absence of printing Press on the premises was not raised then.

It had said the government kept silent till April 2018, when it again sent a notice for inspection in which it said that it was coming to check breaches mentioned in a notice of October 10, 2016.

The AJL also argued that several major papers carry out printing elsewhere.