96-year-old's legal fight reveals Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation's heritage flub | Ahmedabad News - The Times of India

Ahmedabad: Firdaus Apartments in Khanpur may be the only high-rise building in Ahmedabad that enjoys heritage status -- a fact that even the AMC appeared unaware of until the issue reached the high court. The civic body has now admitted that the building's inclusion in the heritage list was "an inadvertent error." The revelation emerged during the hearing of a petition filed by 96-year-old Freny Jinwalla and her three children, who approached the high court seeking the removal of their bungalow from the AMC's list of heritage structures. The bungalow lies near the high-rise. The family was unable to obtain repair permissions because their property was categorized as a protected heritage structure. Several other old constructions are included in the list, putting their owners in the same predicament. The Jinwalla family submitted a representation to the AMC on Sep 9, requesting that their bungalow be removed from the list. With no action taken, the litigants approached the HC stating that the old house was in a dilapidated condition and urgently needed repairs. Their counsel argued that the structure "is not such that it should be treated as a heritage structure," and that the restrictions were causing hardship to the elderly woman. The petitioners pointed out that their bungalow stands on land originally marked as City Survey No. 3544/A of Shahpur ward, later divided into ten sub-plots. While their bungalow occupies subplots 3544/A/3 and 5 to 10, the adjacent sub-plots 3544/A/1, 2, and 4 house Firdaus Apartments of the Kashturbhai Cooperative Housing Society. Yet, the AMC marked all constructions in the main plot including the high-rise residential building -- as heritage structures. The AMC's counsel G H Virk submitted, as the HC recorded in its order, "...it appears that by inadvertent error, the entire original City Survey No. 3544/A has been declared in the heritage structure list. Further, the existence of a high-rise on the same land is not in dispute." After