The Centre on Friday told the Delhi High Court that there is an urgency to vacate the stay on the eviction notice to Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund (JNMF), part of the Teen Murti Estate for the last five decades, as it is required for the Prime Ministers Museum and Library.
ASG Chetan Sharma, appearing for the Centre, told Justice Saurabh Banerjee: “This is basically, actually required for the Pradhan Mantri Sangrahlaya in which all Prime Ministers of the country, their achievements and their continuity, will be displayed to the general public. That is why the urgency.”
The Centre added that JNMF is a “private institution which is occupying this portion” where the PMML is planned, and the authorised occupant, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML), itself had sought JNMF’s vacation from the premises in 2018 to make way for library and archives for all prime ministers, and not just Jawaharlal Nehru. The Centre, on September 10, 2025, had filed an application in a pending plea by JNMF, seeking the court’s direction to vacate its stay on the eviction notice to JNMF.
On September 11, 2018, the Directorate of Estates, under the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, had sent a notice to JNMF administrative secretary D Balakrishnan, seeking vacation of the premises within two weeks. The JNMF was told that its occupation of the premises was “without any authority of law”, and “no statutory or contractual relationship exists” between either the Centre and the Fund or the NMML and JNMF. It also directed JNMF to pay “damage charges for illegal occupation” with effect from August 28, 1967 and warned to vacate the premises on time.
JNMF went on to challenge the eviction notice before Delhi HC and in November 2018, the HC stayed the coercive action. It has countered that it has been in possession of the land from 1967 while the government has claimed that the land is vested with the government and only NMML is in authorised occupation, while JNMF, a “private institution”, is in unathorised occupation.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for JNMF, told the court that while it has been in possession of the space since 1967, roughly 55 years, it was in 2018 that JNMF was told by the Union government that it is in unauthorised occupancy. The Centre argued that “it is the property of the Centre, is under no cavil at all, and if it is with the government, then the Public Premises Act applies in full force”. The court has posted the matter for further hearing next week.
