Mixed reactions to Centre’s reply on city heritage status

“Chandigarh is not a World Heritage City.” This reply from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Lok Sabha to local MP Manish Tewari’s query recently has been met with mixed reactions.

The Chandigarh Master Plan 2031 and Expert Committee’s heritage report has apparently divided the city into two parts — Le Corbusier’s creation of first 30 sectors with heritage status and the rest of the city, which has not been assigned the heritage tag.

On one hand, the Centre says that Chandigarh is not a World Heritage City, yet the term “heritage” holds significance in the Chandigarh Master Plan, which thoroughly describes three grades and 13 heritage zones. The Union Ministry has recognised the document and its contents as heritage. This has led to more confusion than clarification.

The Centre’s statement clarified that the city is not recognised internationally as a heritage site as India has only two cities — Ahmedabad and Jaipur — that are on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list. Chandigarh residents have raised pertinent questions regarding development projects in the city that are hanging fire. Why has the term “heritage preservation” been cited as a reason for these projects being rejected?

To add to the matter, Congress MP Tewari highlighted another matter of inconvenience to residents — the ban on share-wise sale and registration of property in Chandigarh by the UT Administration in 2023, which was a flawed interpretation of the Supreme Court order that had given only interim directions to stop ‘apartmentalisation’ of existing houses.

According to Tewari, the Expert Heritage Committee that was constituted in 2011 has absolutely no locus standi in the eye of law. The subsequent Chandigarh Heritage Conservation Committee (CHCC), set up on the recommendation of the Expert Committee, again has no statuary standards. He added, “For cities when they prepare master plan, certain parts are recognised as important but these don’t have any legal basis. But with regard to Chandigarh, there’s no such place or building, even for that matter the Capitol Complex, which has been recognised as a monument of national importance and has been designated as such under Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958. Also, the master plan is not a legal document but a policy document. It basically lays out how the city will be planned for in future.”

The heritage zones were first identified in detail in the Expert Committee’s heritage report submitted in 2011. The report has been given elaborate space as a sub-section in the Chandigarh Master Plan 2031, which was notified by the Centre, making it a legally binding document.

Kapil Setia, former Chief Architect in the Chandigarh Administration, clarified: “Nowhere in any document was it ever mentioned that Chandigarh is a heritage city. However, the city’s modern architecture, designed by Le Corbusier, holds significant value. As a result, 13 zones in the city are recognised by the Centre under national heritage status.”

Breaking down the chronology, Setia said it was the Prime Minister’s Office, which took notice of the changing character of the city and through a letter dated February 15, 2010, it instructed the Home Minister to form a “committee of experts” to examine both the original concept of the city and the protection, preservation and maintenance of its heritage buildings.

The committee, which consisted of 12-13 members, included representatives from the Ministry of Culture and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Chief Engineers and eminent professionals from urban design and conservation fields. The Chandigarh’s Administrator served as the Chairman and the Adviser as the Member Secretary of the committee. Four sub-committees were formed to submit their findings to the Centre regarding the city’s heritage status.

On the committee’s recommendation, the Chandigarh Heritage Conservation Committee (CHCC) was established on April 20, 2012, by the Union Government. “Even though the committee has a voice in matters related to the identification, protection, conservation and maintenance of heritage, the final decision rests with the Chandigarh Administration. In other words, committee has no teeth or power to enforce decisions. However, the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2023 gave the CHCC the legal strength in addition to the Chandigarh Master Plan,” said Setia.

On the same verdict, Tewari has a different viewpoint. The Supreme Court judgment firstly imposed a ban on the conversion of independent houses into apartments. Secondly, the High Court instructed that no memorandum of understanding (MoU) or agreement or settlement, which validates this arrangement of share-wise sale, would be registered till the time the CHCC does not take a view with regard to the re-densification of Chandigarh. “In other words, these are only interim directions till the time the heritage committee, status of which was never explained to the Supreme Court, took a view that no re-densification is required. Under those circumstances, the interim directions lapse and in any case the Supreme Court directions were only with regard to first 30 sectors, which were constructed when Chandigarh was first built. I have written to the Governor and asked a question in Parliament as to why doesn’t the government file an application in the Supreme Court and get clarity on this issue. Rather than getting clarity on the 2023 verdict, the administration issued a blanket notification banning share-wise sale and registration of property in Chandigarh. Now, that has been heard by the High Court and judgment is reserved. So, this is where we stand right now on the so-called heritage status of Chandigarh.”

Speaking of the heritage committee, Setia said, “Chandigarh has benefitted from the formation of the CHCC, which also took steps to submit a serial nomination for UNESCO World Heritage status for Le Corbusier’s modern architecture. The Chandigarh Capitol Complex, which includes the Legislative Assembly, Secretariat Building, the High Court and several monuments — such as the Open Hand Monument, Geometric Hill, Tower of Shadows and the Martyrs’ Monument — was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 2016 as part of the first Transnational Serial Nomination for the country, leading to international recognition of the city’s architecture.” Thus, according to the CHCC, Chandigarh possesses both internationally and nationally recognised heritage that demands protection and preservation.