Former Shimla Mayor Sanjay Chauhan opposes leasing Town Hall building to pvt parties

Sameer Singh

Shimla, August 3

CPM leader and former Mayor of Shimla Sanjay Chauhan has written a letter to Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu requesting him that more than a century-old historic Town Hall building must not be allowed to leased out to private players and Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) must only use it for administrative affairs.

In the letter addressed to the Chief Minister, the former Mayor has mentioned that the Town Hall building was constructed during the British rule in 1905. Since then it has been used for administrative works. Even after the Independence, the Municipal Corporation has been running its office from the premises.

Attempt to generate revenue

• In its bid to generate revenue, the Shimla MC had entered into an agreement with a Delhi-based businessman to set up a high-end cafe in the corporation’s historical Town Hall building on the Mall Road here in February this year.
• All over the world, constitutionally and traditionally, town halls in cities have been under the jurisdiction of the municipal body, Chauhan stated.

Notably, in its bid to generate revenue, the Shimla MC had entered into an agreement with a Delhi-based businessman to set up a high-end cafe in the corporation’s historical Town Hall building on the Mall Road here in February this year.

Chauhan said, “As per revenue records, the Shimla MC has the ownership rights of the Town Hall building. As per the records, approximately 474-18 square metres area of Town Hall building has been shown in the possession of the SMC.”

“In 2015, the state government took over this historic building for renovation and the office of Shimla Municipal Corporation was temporarily shifted to the premises of the Deputy Commissioner, Shimla office. After a long gap, its renovation work was completed in the year 2021. At the same time, the then BJP-ruled Municipal Corporation, Shimla, came under pressure from the state government and it passed a resolution to run it commercially and filed an affidavit in the High Court in which the proposal to give this building to a private institution for commercial activities was also made,” added Chauhan.

This is clearly a violation of the MC constitution, because constitutional institutions like the government and the municipal corporation have the responsibility to protect public property and use it for the benefit of the public. The letter stated that all over the world, constitutionally and traditionally, town halls in cities have been under the jurisdiction of the municipal body and in these the municipal corporation operates its administrative offices, stated the letter addressed to CM.

“You are requested to cancel the decision of the previous government and the SMC to hand over the Town Hall and other properties to private hands keeping in view the public interest and act according to the provisions of the Himachal Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1994 and eradication of corruption. And MC must take appropriate action against those who caused damage to the properties of Shimla by giving them in private hands,” added Chauhan.