Shillong, Dec 26: The demolition of heritage Tara Ghar in the city which made way for a modern guest house with the same name will invoke contempt of court as the direction from the court in the past was to keep it intact, legal experts have pointed out .
The government hurriedly opened the guest house after the reshuffle of the ministers on September 16 night.
Meghalaya Monitor filed an RTI application regarding the matter but the reply of the Public Works Department was that it is not aware of the PIL and the court case.
“Information not available in the office”, was the reply from the PWD to the question on ‘was there a PIL filed in 2012 not to dismantle state guest house” after an attempt was made to convert the area into new Assembly building.
This despite the Meghalaya Heritage Act , 2012 in existence.
The construction , after demolishing the heritage structure, started on September 14, 2022.
J.C Infra Corporation Ltd (Jaycee Constructions) of Subhash Jhunjhunwala executed the work at a cost of Rs 24,91,39,692.
The features are reception and lounge, VIP lounge, office room, computer room,kitchen and dining area, conference hall, common and PWD’s toilet, VVIP and VIP rooms.There are 18 rooms and one hall.
In a welcome gesture recently, the High Court of Meghalaya has stopped the plan of the government to demolish the heritage state guest house (Bidhan Bhavan or Roy Villa) at Laban built by former West Bengal Chief Minister Bidhan Chandra Roy.
In a subsequent order, the court wanted the state heritage authority to identify heritage buildings for their protection.
Commenting on the legal battle to keep Tara Ghar intact, Advocate VGK Kynta, who was assisting SS Dey, senior Advocate on behalf of Informed Conscious And Responsible Existence (ICARE), deplored dismantling of the old building.
According to Kynta, in 2012 when the then government intended to cut the pine forest adjacent to ward’s lake housing the then Tara Ghar Bungalow for construction of a new Assembly building by dismantling the heritage Tara Ghar, a Public Interest Litigation No. 6 of 2012 was filed before the then Gauhati High Court (Shillong Bench) against the State of Meghalaya by ICARE with the prayer ‘not to give effect to the decision contained in the cabinet proceedings dated 24.08.2009 and for a further direction to the state government not to demolish or disturb the compound or structure of Tara Ghar Bungalow and for declaration of Tara Ghar and Ward’s Lake as heritage sites under the Meghalaya Heritage Act, 2012. The PIL was admitted and in due course, the Government of Meghalaya constituted a High Power Committee in this regard headed by then Speaker with then Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, Prestone Tyngsong and many others . Consequence to the HPC decision dated 9.4.2013 to apprise the government to set up a search committee for selection of a new site for setting up the Assembly building, the High Court of Meghalaya passed an order dated 14.6.2013 closing the PIL.
Though the desire of ICARE to stop the government from demolishing the iconic Tara Ghar was achieved, but without anyone’s knowledge the Tara Ghar was surreptitiously replaced by a new building albeit without seeking leave or approval of the High Court of Meghalaya.
“To my mind this is an act of defiance by the state government. I am sad that concious citizens are either tired or getting old or want to forget things. Presently no one cares. In the name of economic development the ecology is being rampaged to kingdom come. This pine city erstwhile known as the Scotland of the East will be replaced by inglorious buildings.No body is asking why and how Tara Ghar Bungalow came about, the present generation are least interested or oblivious to past history.
“Apart from being the official CMs’ residence of Late Capt W A Sangma, Late Salseng Marak and many others, there is a story behind this iconic Tara Ghar but I am not in a position to elaborate this at the moment”, Kynta said.
