Kolkata, 21 November: The Calcutta High Court has ordered the demolition of the party office of the ruling party Trinamool Congress, built on the ancestral home of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, located in Thakurbari of the metropolis. The court said that it is heritage department’s responsibility to return that part of the building to its former condition.
A division bench of Chief Justice Justice Prakash Srivastava and Rajarshi Bhardwaj said that there is Rabindra Bharati University in Tagore’s Thakurbari itself, which is a heritage structure on Monday. The bench said that it is not acceptable for any party to have an office here.
The court gave the Kolkata Municipal Corporation three weeks to implement the order. The next hearing of the case is on December 19. The High Court on Monday ordered that it is the responsibility of the heritage department to restore the portion where the party office was built illegally. After renovation, that place should be identified as a separate heritage building.
Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava said in this context, “party office cannot be made anywhere.”
Despite being a heritage structure located in Kolkata’s Thakurbari, the office of Trinamool Congress was built by vandalising it. It is alleged that two houses of that building are also being demolished. Recently, the High Court had given a stay order even on vandalism here. Regarding this, a person named Swadesh Majumdar had filed a public interest litigation in the Calcutta High Court. Petitioner’s counsel Srijiv Chakraborty alleged that Jorasanko Bhavan is a “Grade One Heritage”.
The petitioner claims that in the same room where Rabindranath Tagore and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay met for the first time, the office of an organisation called “Shikshabandhu Samiti” of the state’s ruling party Trinamool has been set up.
It is also alleged that the photograph of Rabindranath was removed and the photographs of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee were hung. The matter was heard on November 7, the Calcutta High Court issued a stay order on the demolition of heritage buildings in the Jorasanko Complex.
A division bench of Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bhardwaj said the state would have to answer if the building is demolished despite its order. The bench also ordered a halt to all construction work at the birthplace of Rabindranath. The High Court has asked the state government to submit the report in the form of an affidavit.
