Even as the Congress top leadership is embroiled in a major controversy over it, the defunct newspaper National Herald would be re-launched, its publishers said on Thursday. Its sister newspapers, the Quami Awaz (Urdu) and Navjeevan (Hindi), would also be revived, the shareholders of its publishers Associated Journals Limited, decided in a meeting in Lucknow.

AJL would also be converted into a non-profit entity, a Section-8 company, announced Motilal Vora, Congress treasurer and Managing Director of AJL, after an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of shareholders.

Mr. Vora said the resolutions passed were not in any way connected to the National Herald case. “All members of the company considered and approved the resolutions, which were taken in pursuance of the revival plans of the company since 2010. This decision of the EGM in essence formalises this larger purpose for which the company was founded in the first place,” Mr. Vora said.

Mr. Vora is one of the seven persons summoned by a Delhi Court in the National Herald case.

Five resolutions were passed in the meeting, which was attended by 32 members, after the company placed advertisements in newspapers last month.

Telecom engineer Sam Pitroda and senior Congress leaders Gulam Nazi Azad, Sheila Dixit, Jitin Prasada and Oscar Fernandez were present.

AJL was established in 1937 by the first Prime Minister of the country Jawaharlal Nehru. National Herald faced financial troubles several times over the years and in 2008 ceased to operate.

Under the Companies Act, 2013, a Section-8 company is a venture established "for promoting commerce, art, science, sports, education, research, social welfare, religion, charity, and protection of environment or any such other object" and profits from such a company's activities, as well as any other income earned by it, can be used only for promoting the objectives of the company.