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NEW DELHI: Faced with Supreme Court-ordered eviction from its office space, Aam Aadmi Party on Friday said this would cause grave prejudice to it ahead of general elections and pleaded its willingness to move out as soon as alternative space is made available in the New Delhi municipal area.
On Feb 13, the SC had ordered concerned authorities to specify a timeline for eviction of encroachment by AAP on a plot allotted for expansion of Rouse Avenue trial court complex. Seeking to intervene in the proceedings, the AAP said if it was forced to vacate the space allotted to it since 2015, the party would be left with none of its two legally entitled offices – one each for the national and state units.
“This will severely prejudice the AAP as well as the fairness of the electoral process, given the impending general elections and the fact that the other five national parties are operating out of their allotted offices in New Delhi,” it said.
The governing party of Delhi and Punjab said it was willing to vacate the premises in question only after a suitable office space is allotted to it as a national party in the New Delhi municipal area. The party said that it would not stand in the way of expansion of the Rouse Avenue court complex to meet judiciary’s growing infrastructural needs, but it should not happen at the cost of AAP’s legal entitlements.
It said as a state party, it was allotted the premises in question in 2015. After it became a national party in April last year, it was entitled to two office spaces in the capital city, but request to that effect has not been acceded to by the land-owning authority for more than a year.
“Allotment of office space for official party work is an essential element of public funding of elections in India and is designed to level the electoral playing field, it said.
Repudiating the insinuation of ‘encroachment’, AAP said the premises were allotted to it much prior to the subsequent earmarking of the plot for expansion of the trial court complex. “Without examining the pre-allotment of the land to AAP, the L&DO allotted 3.03 acres of land to GNCTD on Sept 18, 2020, for building additional court rooms for Rouse Avenue Court,” it said.
“When the land was to be taken over, it was then stated by L&DO on Dec 12 last year that, not just the vacant land that is adjacent to the Rouse Avenue Court complex, but a bituminous road and the office of Aam Aadmi Party exist on the said land are also to be allotted for the construction of court complex,” the party said.
On Feb 13, the SC had ordered concerned authorities to specify a timeline for eviction of encroachment by AAP on a plot allotted for expansion of Rouse Avenue trial court complex. Seeking to intervene in the proceedings, the AAP said if it was forced to vacate the space allotted to it since 2015, the party would be left with none of its two legally entitled offices – one each for the national and state units.
“This will severely prejudice the AAP as well as the fairness of the electoral process, given the impending general elections and the fact that the other five national parties are operating out of their allotted offices in New Delhi,” it said.
The governing party of Delhi and Punjab said it was willing to vacate the premises in question only after a suitable office space is allotted to it as a national party in the New Delhi municipal area. The party said that it would not stand in the way of expansion of the Rouse Avenue court complex to meet judiciary’s growing infrastructural needs, but it should not happen at the cost of AAP’s legal entitlements.
It said as a state party, it was allotted the premises in question in 2015. After it became a national party in April last year, it was entitled to two office spaces in the capital city, but request to that effect has not been acceded to by the land-owning authority for more than a year.
“Allotment of office space for official party work is an essential element of public funding of elections in India and is designed to level the electoral playing field, it said.
Repudiating the insinuation of ‘encroachment’, AAP said the premises were allotted to it much prior to the subsequent earmarking of the plot for expansion of the trial court complex. “Without examining the pre-allotment of the land to AAP, the L&DO allotted 3.03 acres of land to GNCTD on Sept 18, 2020, for building additional court rooms for Rouse Avenue Court,” it said.
“When the land was to be taken over, it was then stated by L&DO on Dec 12 last year that, not just the vacant land that is adjacent to the Rouse Avenue Court complex, but a bituminous road and the office of Aam Aadmi Party exist on the said land are also to be allotted for the construction of court complex,” the party said.
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