Hand over Town Hall to Shimla municipal corporation, high court tells Himachal Pradesh

SHIMLA: Bringing the dispute over historic Town Hall building of Shimla to an end, Himachal Pradesh high court has directed the state government to hand over the property to the municipal corporation (MC) and to permit the later to have the offices of mayor and deputy mayor in the Town Hall.


While making it clear that offices of the commissioner or his deputies need not be located in the Town Hall, the court said MC, in consultation with the state government, may put to use the rest of the building for housing a high-end café with reading facilities, information centre and boutique of traditional crafts and arts, attracting tourists, with an entry fee, providing revenue to the MC.

In the judgment decided on Friday, a division bench of Chief Justice V Ramasubramanian and Justice Anoop Chitkara said building is owned by the MC and hence, beyond issuing direction to protect the heritage value of the structure, the court cannot infringe on the property rights of the statutory body.

In the conceptual plan submitted before the court, it was stated that town halls across the globe are being predominantly used by the city councils. It was also stated that a renowned expert in architecture and urban planning had already endorsed the proposal of the MC to use one of the floors to accommodate offices of mayor, deputy mayor, commissioner and other allied officers. It was submitted that the chief minister had also endorsed it in a meeting held on March 6.

The division bench although agreed that the proposal contained in the conceptual plan is broadly acceptable, objected to the shifting of the offices of the commissioner and other allied officers to the building, as it will make it into a full-fledged government office and, thus, tarnishing its heritage building tag.

Court said maintenance and the cleanliness of any government building, especially in a country like India, leaves much to be desired. Moreover, a huge amount of money has been invested in the renovation of the structure and hence, the MC should be able to get some income, which will at least cover maintenance and pay interest on the loan taken.