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| old High Court building Nagpur, India ,reacho.in |
In the colonial era, soon after the Indian subcontinent came under the direct control of the Crown Administration in London, many judicial courts came up to deal with more civil cases in particular. There was a need for a court in the central Province, so, the old High Court building came up in 1891-93 in Nagpur, then capital of the Central Provinces and Berar, to house the Judicial Commissioner’s office. However, in 1936, the Judicial Commissioner’s office was closed for some reason. The government took a decision to house the High Court in this building.After the High Court had moved over to the new building in 1940, this came to be known as Old High Court Building.
This old two-story building dating back to roughly 123 years was built in Indo-European style and is architecturally, a unique edifice in this part then with porticoes on three sides, thick big walls, arcaded veranda, arched wooden doors and Doric columns with little ornamentation. Unfortunately, because of neglect and lack of maintenance often referred to as ''official apathy'', it has fall into disuse and much of the building is in a dilapidated condition. The historic old High Court building is situated on a land in a prime locality, covering 18,228 sq meters
Responding to several representations from the public and heritage enthusiasts, as usual, after a prolonged delay last year in June 2017 Union Ministry of Culture on Wednesday, finally, declared the old High Court building in Civil Lines as a national heritage monument. Yet another good news is the ASI -Archaeological Survey of India finally came around and in December, 2018, declared this building as a monument of National importance. It will be the first ancient monument of national importance in Nagpur. Now, it is included in the list of more than 3,650 ancient monuments, archaeological sites and remains of national importance dotted across the country. Surprisingly, the notification came only in the wake of the order of the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court, on March 26, 2017 recommending demolition of the unused old canteen block within the premises of the historic old High Court building within 48 hours. The purpose was for creating additional parking space for lawyers and litigants visiting Nyay Mandir and Suyog building. The Director General of of the ASI, after following the provisions of the Ancient Monuments & Archaeological Sites and Remains Act (AMASR), 1958 protecting monuments, sites and remains of national importance, gave a two-months’ public notice for inviting objections, if any in this regard. Final notification was issued in July 2017 under Sub-Section 3 of Section 4 of the AMASR Act.
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| High Court Nagpur, India fine British architecture touristlink.com |
It is quite interesting to note that these monuments spread across India in different locations, belong to different periods, ranging from the prehistoric period to the colonial period. They include temples, mosques, tombs, churches, cemeteries, forts, palaces, step-wells, rock-cut caves, and secular architecture as well as ancient mounds and sites which represent the remains of ancient habitation. Like-wise, there are 981 World Heritage monuments which include both cultural and natural wonders, and endowment that is shared by all mankind and the protection of which is the concern of the entire mankind. These include 759 cultural, 193 natural and 29 mixed properties in 137 state parties.
The ASI with various regional circles has an authority over all these monuments - the research and conservation activities, while the Science Branch with its headquarters at Dehradun is taking care of chemical preservation and the Horticulture Branch with its headquarters at Agra is responsible for the laying out gardens and environmental development on these sites. Normally, repairing and restoration works get over delayed as three departments located in three different places are involved and it takes time for them to arrive at a consensus with respect various projects.
Presently, the old High court building is unsafe for occupation and the ASI is using part of the building. The foundation stone was laid on 9 January 1936 by the governor of Cental Province (CP) in the presence of the Chief Justice of the high court Judicature of Nagpur
Sir. Gilbert Stone. However, on 6 January 1940 formal inauguration was done by the then Viceroy and Justice Stone. The Central Provinces Band plated ''God save the King'' in the site opposite to the proposed building followed by speeches by the Viceroy and the Chief Justice. The building was designed by architect Medd Shaw and the work was done under Sardar Bahadur Shohba Singh. It was constructed by one Bhagwant Singh and the total cost of construction was Rs. 10 lakhs - a huge sum in those days. Designed on the lines of the Allahabad High Court building, the length of the structure is 410 feet, width 210 feet and height 50 feet with 8 court rooms. After CJ Sir Stone's retirement, Sir Frederick Grille, Bar-at-law became the CJ. After India's independence, the honor of being the first CJ of the Nagpur High court went to one Sir Vivian Bose in 1948. In February 2011 this historic building of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High court celebrated its Platinum Jubilee on completion of 75 years.
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| Nagpur branch of Bombay high court. hthehitavada.com |
''The Hitavada'', the local newspaper dated 20 December 2018 reported that the Custodian of the cultural heritage sites of our country - the ASI had begun in earnest the repair and restoration of the old high court building in Nagpur by removing the new partitions, etc added in the recent past. Efforts are underway to take care every aspect of the old structure to get it back its old beauty and splendor.
http://thehitavada.com/Encyc/2018/3/30/Old-Nagpur-High-Court-building-declared-national-heritage.aspx
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/7407973.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
http://wikimapia.org/1411525/Old-High-Court-building-now-a-small-portion-with-Archaeological-Survey-of-India-ASI