Herald House will be on its toes this Thursday

The vehicular parking space outside Delhi’s Herald House in Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg lies half-empty, mostly dominated by lazily-parked motorbikes and a handful of angularly parked cars. A signboard emblazoned with “For staff parking only in Herald House” is hung on the wall of the building, which provides an apt explanation—given the scarcity of vehicles outside—that this once iconic building might now be breathing its last.

On October 30, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs issued a notice to National Herald newspaper’s publisher, Associated Journals Limited (AJL), to vacate Herald House by November 15, 2018. Herald House is where AJL has based its registered office since 1937. With a 72-hour deadline looming ahead of them, AJL challenged the Centre’s order in the Delhi High Court on Monday evening (November 12), and the case was heard the next day—Tuesday, November 13—by Justice Sunil Gaur. It was decided that the matter would be heard next on the morning of November 15—the same day that AJL is expected to vacate.

Advocate Sunil Fernandes, who appeared on behalf of AJL, argued on Tuesday that there was urgency in the matter since they had been asked to hand over possession to the Centre by November 15. The high court, however, said that there was no such urgency and that “right now they will take possession only on paper”. What should be noted is that the deferring of the hearing date to November 15—which was decided on November 13—was because the file case had not been delivered to the designated courtroom by the high court registry.

Fernandes told Newslaundry, “The court didn’t have the file with it, which is why it has re-notified the hearing for November 15. In case we do not get a favourable decision, they will have to indicate proceedings under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1971, which could take a few weeks. It’s not like they will be able to enter the premises on November 15 itself.”

In its order, the urban development ministry had cited violations in the allotment and illegal usage of the Herald House building. It also mentioned that no press had been functioning at the premises for nearly a decade now. It’s to be noted that since November 2016, the Congress-owned National Herald—which had suspended its operations since 2008—re-launched itself as a multimedia and digital news platform. The ministry also pointed out that Herald House is now being used only for commercial purposes, thereby being in violation of the lease deed.

At about 2.15 pm on Tuesday, National Herald’s edit meeting was in full swing on the building’s fourth floor, oblivious to the functioning of the outside world. A highly placed editorial source at National Herald said that irrespective of which way the decision swings, come Thursday, it will “not interfere with journalistic activities”. When asked if there was a contingency plan if things went south, the source said that “contingency is not an editorial issue” and that the decision was something that would have to be decided by management.

The same source also said the claim that no printing activities are being carried out in the Herald House premises was incorrect. “Printing activities are being carried out in the building’s basement. One press was out of order earlier, but we got another one installed.” As of now, two weekly editions are being printed: the Sunday edition of National Herald and its Hindi publication Navjivan.

When asked what the mood was like at National Herald, the source described it as being “upbeat”. “We are publishing as many stories as we did before the notice came through, and will continue to do so.”

It remains to be seen how upbeat their mood stays. As of now, November 15 seems to be the D-day for deciding the fate of whether or not National Herald will continue operating out of Herald House.