Committee to hear objection to heritage status for Shivaji

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation today informed the Bombay High Court that it had formed a review committee to consider objections to the Heritage Conservation Committee's decision to include Shivaji Park precinct in central Mumbai its proposed heritage list.
The division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice M S Sanklecha is hearing two petitions -- one by Park resident Arun Chitale and another by Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry -- challenging the Juy 31, 2012 decision of the heritage committee to include the precinct in the proposed list.
The petitions have also challenged the August 13, 2013 circular of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), directing its officers to take into consideration the heritage committee's notice, and to obtain a No Objection Certificate from the committee before sanctioning any proposal for redevelopment, repairs, demolition and modification of any building in the area.

The BMC today informed HC that it had appointed a review committee, to be headed by former secretary Dinesh Afzalpurkar, which would meet twice a month to hear objections and suggestions on the issue of heritage status.
According to the BMC, it has received 740 objections to the heritage committee's decision.
The judges directed the civic body to file affidavit on this within a week, and also directed the state government to file its reply, posting the matter for hearing on December 17.
The court, also, directed BMC to start processing the proposals for redevelopment of the area in the meanwhile.