Heritage conservation panel gets new chief after a decade

Ahmedabad: On Tuesday, after a prolonged delay, the state govt via an order appointed the commissioner of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) to hold additional charge as chairman of the high-powered heritage conservation committee (HCC), "until further notice." The order was issued by Prakash Dutta, officer on special duty and ex-officio joint secretary to govt.
This announcement comes amid significant delays in the HCC's reconstitution, which was pending since Dec 2014. Despite the city being inscribed as a Unesco World Heritage City in July 2017, the HCC was not fully reconstituted, raising concerns about the validity of its decisions and the overall preservation efforts.
"The HCC's purpose is to conserve the historic, aesthetic, cultural and architectural qualities of listed heritage buildings," said a senior AMC official.
The HCC's powers include advising on changes to the list of heritage buildings and on development control regulations for heritage conservation.
The delay in reconstituting the HCC has led to questions about the legitimacy of decisions made since 2014. An official noted that the heritage regulations were not made part of the Ahmedabad plan in 2021, which further complicated the HCC's legitimacy. Despite this, HCC issued numerous TDR certificates and made recommendations on modifications and repairs to heritage buildings. An RTI application by Pankaj Bhatt revealed that the panel's reconstitution was pending since Dec 2014.