Govt decides to take over ‘misused’ Herald House

NEW DELHI: The government has decided to take over the Herald House building in central Delhi, belonging to Congress’ mouthpiece ‘National Herald’, for violation of conditions on which the land was allotted.
Sources said the plot was allocated for installing a press to print ‘National Herald’ but is not used for any printing activity. They also said most of the building had been rented out .
Sources told TOI that a “legally vetted” order regarding the cancellation of the allotment has been despatched to the allottee. “All due process has been followed. The order has been passed after following the norms, which included a ground survey and after going through their response to our notice,” said an official.
Sources said if the premises were not used for printing press, which was the primary condition of leasing the land to the publisher at highly nominal rate, it amounted to misuse of the allotted land and the authority has the right to take it back. The inspection team had also found unauthorised construction in the building. He added similar violations have been found in other premises on this stretch and notices have been issued to the official allottees for their response. “The National Herald case will be an example for other violators. There is an ongoing court case for another building on the same stretch,” he added .
When told about the ministry’s decision, Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said, “If any politically motivated and biased order has been passed, it would be challenged in the appropriate court. Any political high-handedness would be a met with a... legal challenge.”