One-down for Congress

Amid the sweet whiff of victory in the three Hindi heartland states in the recent elections has come a pungent legal order for the Congress. In an apparent setback to the party, in particular its president Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, the Delhi High Court has ordered Associated Journals Limited (AJL), publisher of Congress mouthpiece National Herald, to vacate its premises within a fortnight, failing which proceedings under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971, would be initiated. Coming down hard on AJL, the court dismissed allegations of mala fide against the BJP government as ‘preposterous’, proclaiming that Young Indian, in which Rahul and Sonia Gandhi are majority shareholders, had, indeed, ‘hijacked’ AJL.

In what was a pathetic contention, AJL had claimed that the Centre’s October 30 eviction order, ending its 56-year-old lease, was an attempt to covertly obliterate and ‘defame’ Jawaharlal Nehru’s legacy. The court, however, declared that it found no reason to believe so. An unlisted company, AJL was conceptualised by Nehru, but was not ‘personal property’ since it was established with the support of a large number of freedom fighters, who became its shareholders.   

It is evidently a case of misuse of property, premises and purpose. It is unacceptable when a property on lease, in violation of its stated objective, is sublet for rental income, to a passport office. No press had been functioning for the past decade and the space was being used for commercial operations. In an impudent takeover — some shareholders claim without their knowledge — almost all of AJL’s shares were transferred to the ‘not-for-profit’ Young Indian. The interest of AJL’s property worth over Rs 400 crore ingeniously fell in its kitty. With notable real estate consolidations across India, AJL is a symptom of a rotting edifice; nevertheless a crucial one since it involves a national party. Wanton misuse of office space and premises for commercial operations is everywhere, be it a national media house or a behemoth hospital chain. In this game of Monopoly, the statutory obligations stand opportunely diluted or suitably abandoned.