The Central Government has allotted a new office space to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), following the orders of the Delhi High Court. Bungalow No. 1, Ravi Shankar Shukla Lane, New Delhi will be the new address of the Aam Aadmi Party headquarters.
The house has been allocated to the party on a temporary basis for 3 years, while the govt finds land to be given to the party for the construction of permanent office. The urgent decision came after the Delhi HC set a time limit for the same, as the AAP has to vacate its current office on the Supreme Court’s orders.
On July 16, the Delhi HC granted 10 days to the Centre to decide the request of AAP for temporary allotment of land for office space. The Center had sought four weeks to decide on the request of AAP, but the court granted only 10 days.
Advocate Rishikesh Kumar representing AAP, said that the High Court had passed a judgement supporting them on June, 5 and said that the place must be allotted to AAP. He said that the party will see the suitability and other factors for the allocated house, adding that the party has time till 10 August to vacate its present office premises at Rouse Avenue.
Notably, AAP wanted a place for its office on the Deen Dayal Marg, where its current office apart from the offices of BJP and Congress is located. But no place was available to be allocated to the party, and now the govt has allocated a Lutyens Bungalow instead.
AAP is entitled to 1,000 square metres of land for its party headquarters given its national party status.
“On 5th June, the High Court had given a judgment in our favour and said that the place should be allotted to Aam Aadmi Party. There was a time limit of 6 weeks which expired on 17th July. On 16th July, the Union govt asked for more time. The court rejected their application and asked the Union for allotment by the 25th of July,” said Advocate Rishikesh Kumar.
“The union while complying with the court’s directions has offered us an allotment. The Party team is examining the place and after that, we will decide on further course of action…” he added.
AAP had moved the High Court seeking allotment of space to use as its party office till the permanent allotment of land for the construction of its office. The High Court had said that the Aam Aadmi Party is entitled to use a housing unit as its party office till the permanent allotment of land for the construction of its office.
The court had cited Consolidated guidelines for allotment of GPRA to Political parties which says that the National Political Parties, recognised by the Election Commission of India, shall be allowed to retain/secure allotment of one housing unit from General Pool in Delhi for their office use on payment of the normal licence fee. The said accommodation will be provided for a period of three years during which the party would acquire a plot of land in an institutional area and will construct its own accommodation for the party office, the guidelines add.
The High Court said that a perusal of the said clause indicates that National Political Parties have a right to retain/secure allotment of one housing unit from General
Pool in Delhi for their office use on payment of licence fee and the said accommodation will be provided for a period of three years during which the party would acquire a plot of land in an institutional area and will construct its own accommodation for party office.
The Delhi High Court added that even though always there is pressure on the Pool of houses available for allotment to the officers, it can’t be the reason to deny the right to a house to use as its party office.
However, the high court said that whether the Petitioner would be entitled to a plot of land in Central Delhi or not is the subject matter of another Writ Petition.
The Aam Aadmi Party has been asked to vacate current office on Deen Dayal Marg as the office is situated on land allocated to Rouse Avenue Court. The Supreme Court in March this year slammed AAP over alleged ‘encroachment’ of land meant for Delhi judiciary, and asked it to vacate the premises by 15 June. Slamming Aam Aadmi Party for ‘illegally occupying’ the encroached land, the three-judge SC bench emphasised that AAP has no lawful right to continue occupying the allotted land.
However, the apex court had allowed the party to use the office till the Lok Sabha elections. The party had agreed to vacate the office, on the condition that it be given an alternate location as per its entitlement given its national party status.
The party had denied encroachment charges saying that the office was allocated to it in 2015 by the AAP govt in Delhi. However, the Land and Development Office (L&DO) under the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry allocated the land for the expansion of the District court complex, and the party was asked to move out.
Before the allocation of the Rouse Avenue house, AAP operated its office from rented premises.
Speaking to the media, Delhi Minister and AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj, “…Attempts were being made to oust AAP from its office and push it onto streets, that it be trampled on and finished. This is a common courtesy in politics that you allot an office to a party. Unfortunately, we have to approach the Court even for this. We welcome that with the Court’s repeated directions, the Centre was compelled to allot an office to AAP. But it’s unfortunate and they should have allotted the office before we moved the court.”
