Historic Gokhale Hall
gets reprieve from High Court

Ninety four-year-old Gokhale Hall, witness to several historic events involving not only our city but the nation as well may have a future other than demolition. The High Court of Madras, based on a public interest litigation by a member of the Young Men’s ­Indian Association, granted a stay on the demolition of the building, further to its interim order a few weeks ago.

In a significant move, which may have a bearing on future attempts to demolish other heritage structures, the Court also ordered the examination of the possibility of “whether the building can be preserved as part of the heritage and culture of not only Tamil Nadu but the whole nation.” This assumes importance in the light of the fact that in the absence of a Heritage Act in the State, earlier judgements on similar issues (such as in the case of the Bharat Insurance Building) have restricted themselves to prevention of demolition and not examined the possibility of restoration. The Gokhale Hall case has more or less taken the same direction as the case involving the demolition of the Director-General of Police building on the Marina. Then, too, the Court had ordered the examination of whether the building could be preserved, and happy results followed.

Passing orders on the stay, the first bench of the High Court stated that all attempts to demolish the building on Armenian Street should be stopped and not carried out till further orders. The Court ordered the Tamil Nadu chapter of INTACH (the Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage) to visit the place and make a detailed survey of the building and report on whether it could be repaired.

The Court also took cognisance of the fact that, earlier, a part of the structure had been demolished in a hurry even while the interim stay was being granted. It has asked INTACH to examine whether the portion which has been demolished can be re-constructed in tune with the original structure. IN­TACH, the court order has said, should take the assistance of S. Muthiah, the chronicler of the city’s history, and file its report in a sealed cover within three weeks.

The Court also came down heavily on the Government and questioned how the demolition of such a historic structure was permitted. And it has asked the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) to clarify its stand on heritage buildings.

All these developments only go to highlight the crying need for a Heritage Act in the city and the State. As background to such an act, INTACH has already listed many of the heritage buildings in the city and the report has been gathering dust in the CMDA or some ­Government Department for over two years now. The draft Heritage Act, on which too ­IN­TACH had correspondence with the Town & Country ­Planning Department and CMDA, has met with the same fate. It remains to be seen whether the latest orders of the Court have any impact on these departments and the Government.

The recent trend of the High Court appointing independent and neutral experts to study aspects of heritage and culture prior to any action is something the Government could do well to emulate. An earlier instance has been the case pertaining to illegal advertising hoardings where a similar committee filed a report on heritage (built and natural) spots in the city where such billboards ought not to be ­located.