‘Incredible India’: HC rejects plea of publisher

The Tourism Ministry seems to be inching closer to regaining its control over the title of its bimonthly magazine ‘Incredible India’ which it started in 2003. The Delhi High Court on Friday rejected the application of Durga Das Publications to stay the show-cause notice served to it by Additional Commissioner of Police (Licensing) asking why their licence should not be cancelled since it had concealed vital information while registering the ‘Incredible India’ title with the Registrar of Newspapers in India (RNI) in the name of its representative Rupali Narasimhan. The Tourism Ministry owns a copyright on the tagline ‘Incredible India’.

The court, however, did provide seven days of additional time to the publishing house to file its reply in the case. The show-cause notice had come in the wake of a strongly worded advice from the Law Ministry, which after going through the files, was of the opinion that Durga Das Publications had made a false representation before RNI and was engaged in a criminal conspiracy which resulted in losses to the Tourism Ministry.

“Their application seeking a stay on the notice was rejected by the Delhi High Court. Now they have to file a reply by next Friday,” said Sundari Nanda, Additional Commissioner of Police (Licensing).

The ownership of the title, which is named after Tourism Ministry’s highly successful campaign ‘Incredible India’, has been claimed by Durga Das Publications.