Mumbai: ‘Savarkar Sadan’, the residence of Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, cannot be declared a centrally protected monument, as it falls short of the 100-year age requirement, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has informed the Bombay High Court.
The property at the Shivaji Park area of Dadar, Mumbai, can, however, be protected
ASI, however, suggested that the building in the Shivaji Park area of Dadar in central Mumbai can be protected if it is included in the heritage list of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) or the state-protected monument list, the ASI has said.
This would prevent the demolition of the structure and ensure its preservation in the future, the ASI noted in its affidavit, as reported by Deccan Herald.
The Bombay High Court is hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the matter filed by the Abhinav Bharat Congress, a public charitable trust. The ASI affidavit came as a response to this.
The house, built in 1938, was home to Savarkar till his death in 1966. The premises has a significant history as it is known to have hosted several significant meetings, including with Subhas Chandra Bose in 1940 and with Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte in 1948.
In its PIL, the Abhinav Bharat Congress sought a direction that the building be declared a “monument of national importance”.
In its response, the ASI states that it only preserves monuments or sites of national importance, declared protected under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, by the Centre. An ancient structure should be more than 100 years old to be declared a centrally protected monument of national importance, it added in the affidavit.
Savarkar Sadan is a “significantly important building”, originally built in 1938 as a ground-plus-one bungalow with three flats on the ground floor and two on the first, it has been stated in the affidavit.
The matter is likely to come up for hearing again next week before a bench headed by Bombay High Court Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar.
