Former Shimla mayor writes to CM, demands cancellation of Town Hall lease

After a private company put up its hoardings on the iconic 118-year-old Town Hall building at the Mall Road, former Shimla mayor and CPI(M) district secretary Sanjay Chauhan wrote an open letter to the chief minister (CM) Sukhvinder Singh Sukh to cancel its lease, which he alleged was granted by the previous government in gross violation of norms.

In his letter, Chauhan said the Town Hall building was constructed in 1905 by Britishers and was used as an administrative office before transforming into Shimla municipal corporation (SMC) office post-independence.

In revenue records as well, the SMC is the owner of the Town Hall and its area 474-18 square metres is shown in occupation of the civic body, said Chauhan.

The upper floor of the Town Hall houses the offices of the mayor, deputy mayor and commissioner, while the lower portion has a meeting room in addition to the various other offices of the SMC.

He alleged that in 2015, the then state government took over the historic building for renovation and the office of SMC was temporarily shifted to the premises of the deputy commissioner’s office.

The renovation work was completed in 2021 when BJP was in power in the civic body.

He alleged the BJP-led state government exerted pressure on the SMC after which a resolution was passed in the civic body house to lease out the property in private hands for commercial activities.

“This was clearly a violation of duties assigned to a municipal corporation by the Constitution,” he said.

Chauhan said the civic body or any other urban local body has the responsibility to protect public property and use it for the benefit of the public.

However, the SMC acted entirely opposite to what is expected from it and handed over the Town Hall to the private players.

If the building goes into private hands, the former mayor said, the SMC will not have any place of its own where it can hold its monthly and other meetings.

Apart from the Town Hall, other properties of SMC, including Taka Bench Book Cafe, Tutikandi Multipurpose Complex etc, have also been handed over to private players for commercial activities by the previous BJP-ruled SMC and warrant a thorough probe.

He said all over the world, constitutionally and traditionally, town halls of the city have been under the jurisdiction of the civic body from where these bodies’ function.

In the three-tier governance system provided for in the Constitution, Chauhan said, the elected civic bodies have been given the responsibility of the overall development of the people by running the governance system according to the aspirations of the people in the city.

“But the BJP-ruled previous state government and SMC have openly violated the Constitution and the Himachal Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1994 by ignoring this constitutional obligation,” he alleged.

Therefore, you are requested to immediately cancel the decision and the lease agreements of Town Hall and other SMC properties keeping in view the public interest and acting according to the provisions of the Himachal Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1994.

He said those responsible for causing damage to these heritage properties should be prosecuted under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The building should be restored to the SMC at the earliest, he demanded.