The Bhabha House dilemma

Centre keen to take over the iconic bungalow, but prominent citizens object. Both sides have a point.

Following a letter from Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) employees, the central government has reportedly informed the Bombay High Court that it could be considering the takeover of famed nuclear scientist Homi Bhabha's iconic bungalow 'Mehragir' on Little Gibbs Road in Malabar Hill.

The plan is  to convert it into a museum. The three storied heritage structure with French windows, latticed wooden flooring and verandahs overlooking lush gardens went under the hammer recently, fetching a whopping Rs 372 Cr for the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA), the current owners of the property.

 

 

The late Homi J Bhabha had willed the bungalow to his brother Jamshed who bequeathed it to the NCPA, asking Mumbai's premier cultural body of which he was an integral part, to use the proceeds from its sale to run and expand their activities.

 

Prominent Mumbai citizens including Anil Dharker, Dolly Thakore, Shyam Benegal, Shobhaa De, Adil Jussawala and Sangita Jindal among others have put their weight behind the NCPA and appealed to the PM not to intervene in the auction proceedings and disregard the will of Jamshed Bhabha.

 

'There is absolute clarity on the legality of the house. It was a private property willed by Bhabha to his brother, who as its sole inheritor handed it down to the NCPA - one of the finest cultural organizations in the city - so that it could multiply its resources and continue the good work it is doing.' Dileep Padganokar, journalist and one of the signatories to the memorandum told the Business Standard.

 

Signatories also point out that the auction has not been held for commercial reasons and the property once sold will be occupied for end use by a family & not demolished to give way to a high-rise like several other South Bombay heritage buildings have in the past. NCPA in turn will benefit immensely from the bounty.

 

A Bhabha museum for public interest vs. cash in the coffers of NCPA, a truly committed non government outfit that has devoted five decades to preserving and enhancing India's cultural legacy - it is indeed a dilemma for anyone observing the case. It is however eminently possible for the government to satisfy both sides and avoid a long winded legal dispute.

 

If the government does decide to take possession of the bungalow with a view to convert it into a museum for the public, which by all means it should, given both the Bhabha legacy and the heritage value of the building, it must pay NCPA the full market rate for the same. The country's largest performing arts centre must not be deprived of its rights to the property, neither should Bhabha's will be disrespected.

 

The other imperative is to immediately list the property in the Greater Bombay Heritage register which was first submitted to the Government in 1995 and subsequently revised in 2012. It is a surprise to conservationists that it wasn't listed when several newer buildings of lesser distinction found a place in the logs. In the event that the government is unable to secure the rights for the property, this will protect it from prowling builders who've destroyed many such grand colonial mansions in the precinct once belonging to rich merchants, royalty and aristocrats.

 

Finally the Bhabha bungalow case must be seen by the government as a paradigm to be replicated to deal with many such other nationally significant landmarks in need for public protection and restoration. Most notable among them, and barely a few hundred meters away from Bhabha's residence is Jinnah house, in desperate need of restoration but lying untended, caught as it is in a legal quagmire.

 

'This is an amazing property that needs to be thrown open to the public given its historic significance' says Abha Narain Lambah, Conservation Architect. 'Compare how long the government has sat over a decision on this very important building, and one wonders why such expediency in interfering in the Bhabha case'.

 

Whatever may be the reasons, the Bhabha case does provide a new starting point for the government to give a much needed face-lift not just to important national landmarks but to the city's heritage structures in general that have over the past decade been held to ransom by merciless demolition drives by builders and redevelopment lobbies. There is much that needs to be done collaboratively by the state and the centre. Mumbai was among the first cities in the country to come up with regulations and listings for heritage buildings in 1995, and while numerically many more structures are today under protection than they were, they continue to remain precariously poised, many in a state of deep disrepair.

 

Experts say laws like the Rent Act that froze rents in 1948 leaving little money with owners to undertake repair works need to be junked. A carrot and stick policy that has the provisions to provide tax incentives, fiscal aid and grants to private owners for restoration projects is also the need of the hour. Not all of Mumbai's heritage structures have the importance that a Bhabha house has attached to it, but for a city that is fast losing its colonial character to listless cement-glass facades, losing one more of its rapidly diminishing heritage landmarks would be a travesty of equal measure.