ASI issues notices over constructions near monuments

Following a Delhi High Court order, the Archaeological Survey of India has issued notices to several agencies in the Capital, including the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, over 93 structures constructed within prohibited areas near Centrally protected monuments.

A copy of these notices has also been sent to the civic bodies, including the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, directing them to stop approval of any further construction at these sites. The areas prohibited for construction are within 100 metres of Centrally protected monuments.

The ASI issued the notices on Tuesday and Wednesday informing the agencies that these structures were illegal as per the High Court order and face a prospect of demolition. “As per the notice, the agencies concerned have been issued a show-cause notice asking why the existing construction should not be demolished,” a senior ASI official said.

According to him, the projects where construction would now stand suspended as per the notice include some key Commonwealth Games projects such as the ambitious elevated road project over Barapullah drain and the Salimgarh Fort to Velodrome Road project being undertaken by the Public Works Department. Other projects hit belong to other agencies including the Delhi Jal Board and the Delhi Development Authority apart from individual cases of construction in areas including Green Park and Hauz Khas.

The notices were sent on the instruction of the Delhi High Court, which declared illegal a high-level expert committee that had earlier granted permissions to these agencies for construction of the structures on a case-to-case basis.

An ASI official said: “The order while declaring the committee illegal states that it has no provision or right to give permission for approving construction near Centrally protected monuments which is why the ASI has withdrawn permissions given by it earlier.” “The permissions were granted by the ASI and the committee constituted by it, comprising historians and town planners, but they stand null and void following the Court order,” he added.