A file image of Devaraja Market
Credit: DH Photo
Mysuru: The Supreme Court (SC) of India has directed, to make the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) as parties to the petition for Special Leave (SLP), seeking interim relief to the judgement of Karnataka High Court in a writ petition to conserve the iconic Devaraja Market and Lansdowne buildings of Mysuru city.
The SC has issued an order to this effect, on December 4, to the petition by G Sathyanarayana, also known as Gouri Sathya, and another person, versus the State of Karnataka and others.
The order has been issued by a SC bench, comprising judges Sudhanshu Dhulia and Ashanuddin Amanulla, to the petition to refrain from demolishing or reconstructing the Devaraja Market and Lansdowne Building. The judges have also directed to issue notices to the newly impleaded parties – ASI and INTACH - and to re-list the matter for hearing on January 8, 2025.
The SLP had been filed against the impugned judgment and final order (dated August 8, 2023), passed in Writ Petition No 15215/2020 (PIL), by the High Court. The PIL had been filed by Gouri Sathya and Rajachandra, son-in-law of Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar, seeking a direction to the respondent authorities, to refrain from demolishing or reconstructing the Devaraja Market and Lansdowne Building.
They argued that the Devaraj Market and Lansdowne Building are heritage buildings, as per Section 2(1ea) of the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act, 1961, in view of their classification as heritage building in the Master Plan – 2031 for Mysuru-Nanjangud Local Planning Area (Revision – II).
While a portion of the Devaraja Market building collapsed in August 2016, a part of the Lansdowne Building collapsed earlier, in August 2012, claiming four lives. The Karnataka government had set up two committees, which gave extremely different reports. Even as one report advocated conservation of the buildings, by strengthening and restoring them, another advocated demolition and construction of new buildings. The government had accepted the later report and thus the petitioners approached the High Court.
A Division Bench of the High Court, comprising Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice M G S Kamal, dismissed the PIL filed in 2020, by Mysuru citizens, including D Shrijay Devaraj Urs, Gouri Satya, N Niranjan Nikam (now late) and Raja Chandra.
Devaraja Market was built during the time of Maharaja Chamarajendra Wadiyar from 1881 to 1894, while the Lansdowne Building was inaugurated by Viceroy Lansdowne (Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th marquess of Lansdowne) on November 10, 1892.