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Bombay high court directs Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation to reconstruct heritage limestone finial at Petit Institute
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Mumbai: The Bombay high court directed the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL) to reconstruct a heritage limestone finial feature of the iconic JN Petit Institute, which fell during the construction of Metro Line III in 2017.
A division bench of Justices M S Sonak and Jitendra Jain, in its July 10 judgment, said, "Whilst the march of development and infrastructural projects cannot be halted in a city like Mumbai, such a march cannot be permitted to run roughshod over the concerns of preserving and maintaining heritage buildings for posterity." The high court clarified that its prima facie observations are not intended to prejudice either the trust or the state and MMRCL, and kept all contentions open on either side.
The high court was disposing of a petition filed in 2018 by D V M Patel and Homa Petit, trustees of the JN Petit Institute, a Grade II-A heritage structure located at DN Road in Fort.
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Construction of the underground metro line was completed in 2023, said the high court. It said the petitioners retain the liberty to initiate legal proceedings in case any damage arises when the metro becomes operational.
The high court said that regarding the fallen finial it had "no serious doubts about the connection to MMRCL's Metro Line III project works".
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The judgment noted that records showed it "collapsed on 25 Aug 2017, when the petitioners were constantly complaining about the vibrations and the failure to monitor them". The trust filed a petition in 2017, and following a stay of work by the high court on Sept 15, 2017, in front of the institute, the court appointed an expert committee which recommended precautionary measures. Only then did the HC, on 29 November 2017, vacate the restraint and allow MMRCL to resume work.
The HC on Thursday noted that "fortunately, the MMRCL, without prejudice to its rights and contentions and without accepting any liability, has now agreed to reconstruct the limestone finial …". The high court termed as "too speculative" the petitioning trustees' concern "at this stage" over damage likely to be caused once the underground metro becomes operative and said the averments of MMRCL in its affidavit address some of the trust's concerns.
The high court observed that MMRCL's statements suggest that the alignment of the metro tunnel is not directly under the Petit building.
"The tracks run approximately four to five metres away horizontally and around 25 metres below ground level," the high court said in its judgment, recording MMRCL's claims that noise levels are within legal norms and even the maximum recorded vibration value of 55 VdB at surface ground level is lower than the permitted limit of 72 VdB.
"At this point, it is not for us to either accept or reject the above statements," the high court said.
The high court directed MMRCL "to reconstruct/restore/replicate the limestone finial previously forming a part of the building at its own costs" subject to various conditions including full cooperation of the trust. The trust must obtain all prior requisite permissions from authorities, said the high court, for the restoration work.
The court said work must finish within eight months of the last permission once received.
The trust operates the JN Petit Reading Room and Library since 1856. The plea concerned JN Petit Institute, along with an arcade constructed on the land in Fort, south Mumbai, a neo-gothic revival style building dating back to 1898. It houses a lakh books and was renovated in 2014-15 and was conferred the UNESCO Award of Distinction for Cultural Heritage Conservation. The building features various ornamental, decorative, and distinctive elements, including a circular staircase tower, bouquets, finials, and tower turrets that shape its silhouette.
The building's foundation is "only around three metres deep", the trustees said.
