Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund receives eviction notice, refutes unauthorised charges

Following the eviction notice sent by the ministry through its Directorate of Estates to the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund (JNMF), which is chaired by Sonia Gandhi in the Teen Murti Estate, asking it to evict the place adjacent to the Nehru Memorial Museum Library (NMML), the JNMF has written back to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs rejecting charges of unauthorised use of the offices.

The Centre and the NMML plan to construct a new establishment to honour all the previous prime ministers of India.

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The JNML in their letter have stated that it has been recognised as a property of the NMML by both the library and the government since 1967 and requested the notice to be withdrawn. N Balaskrishnan, JNMF’s administrative secretary has stated in his letter that the Fund is fully entitled to use the property as “it has functioned in the public interest over the past half-century or more in fulfilling the objectives of NMML”. 

“The said property is not a ‘public premises’ under the act as is sought to be alleged by you but is the property of NMML,” the letter states, adding that no one has challenged its authority since decades.

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The letter also stated that the Fund has invested its own funds for the property and the NMML does not have the authority to revoke its right.

On September 11, the ministry had sent an eviction notice to the JNML, asking it to vacate the property adjacent to the NMML by September 24, and added that the NMML is in possession of the JNMF.