NEW DELHI: To avoid a potential legal hassle, the Heritage Conservation Committee (HCC) has decided to direct civic bodies to forward only those proposals - for repair, maintenance, or making any alteration in notified heritage buildings including private properties - which are not entangled in disputes.
The decision was taken in a meeting of the panel last week. The development came after the HCC was impleaded as a party in a case when an owner of the property located in Connaught Place challenged a proposal, to carry out a repair and renovation sent to the HCC by the tenant, in the Delhi HC.
“The HCC was also made a party to the case though the aspect relating to ownership does not fall within the purview of the HCC. To avoid HCC getting involved in litigation, it was decided to ask the local bodies to ensure that only those proposals for additions, alterations, repairs and renovations are sent to HCC where there are no disputes regarding ownership of buildings or tenant-owner disputes,” said the minutes of the meeting of the committee.
The panel, headed by Kamran Rizvi, additional secretary, ministry of housing and urban affairs, also noted in the minutes that proposals are being received directly from the tenants, though; the maintenance of heritage buildings is the responsibility of the owner as per the Unified Building Byelaws for Delhi 2016.
It is mandatory to seek approval from the HCC to undertake repair or renovation of notified heritage buildings, precincts or natural features in the city.
In Delhi, there are more than 900 notified heritage buildings and 775 of them are under the jurisdiction of three Municipal Corporations - east, north, and south.
The New Delhi Municipal Council area has 147 such structures. The list of notified structures includes buildings such as India Gate, and Town Hall among others.