HC constitutes expert committee to inspect Sunehri Mahal

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

The Aurangabad Bench of Bombay High Court comprising Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice R M Joshi today constituted a committee comprising experts to conduct a spot-inspection of the protected monument Sunehri Mahal and submit a report stating its actual condition and suggestions on improvement of its upkeep.

The committee headed by the chief government pleader Amarjeet Sinh Girase comprises Ajay Kulkarni (architect), Ravindra Kale (executive engineer) and Aditya Waghmare, petitioner Adv Yogesh Bolkar, Adv Kavita Bhale, Adv Preeti Wankhede and assistant director (Department of Archaeology) Jayan Chavan. The next hearing on the petition will be held on April 30.

As reported earlier, when the public interest litigation (PIL) came up for hearing on Monday, the litigator Yogesh Bolkar submitted photographs in the court highlighting the poor upkeep of the Sunehri Mahal and its periphery. The High Court then expressed concern over the upkeep of other protected monuments in and around the city as well. Hence the committee has been formed to jot down the exact condition of the above heritage.

In today’s hearing, the chief government pleader submitted the list of monuments protected by the Department of Archeology. The court then directed to specify what measures the state government especially the state archaeology, had taken to preserve these monuments (including those in the city).

The government pleader also mentioned the actions taken after the issuance of the court directives like issuing of order by the state government prohibiting any public programme at protected monuments, inviting tender for repairing of Sunehri Mahal, and inviting tender to repair and preserve the sculptures lying in the backyard of the Sunehri Mahal.

Adv Yogesh Bolkar represented himself. He was assisted by Adv Vishnu Madan Patil.