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“Heritage” or “historic architecture” should be the purview of the Union ministry of culture. But it has become a concern of the Union ministry of urban development. This is strange, since heritage is not merely of urban provenance. In the case of Delhi, there is an autonomous body — the Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC) — created by Parliament and directly answerable to it. Delhi is the only city in India with such a commission. “Urban art” is quite different from “urban arts”— the way it is usually (mis)spelt. The art of building an attractive city, in terms of roads, public spaces and buildings requires a wide vision, where a proposed building is examined in context, and not just as a standalone structure. The DUAC, by looking at the larger landscape, can give a direction to the city which the DDA — that cannot see the woods for the trees — is incapable of.

Once the category of “heritage buildings” was officially accepted, a Heritage Conservation Committee (HCC) was formed to examine two categories of proposals — one, those related to altering heritage buildings, and two, those where new buildings might encroach into the controlled area around ASI monuments. This committee is bound by rules introduced into Delhi’s building bylaws, rules worded in lifeless officialese which takes the magic out of the concept of heritage. No thought has been given to details such as what is sacrosanct — the façade or the whole building? There has also been no thought on how conservation is to be funded.

There is some obfuscation caused by the fact that the DUAC and the HCC function from the same rooms in the India Habitat Centre, the secretary of one is also the secretary of the other, and there are individuals who are members of both bodies. There is something unsatisfactory in the functioning of the committee. Very little has been generated in its meetings, it follows the curious practice of never having its minutes approved and it never indicates to its members that their term of office has ended, leave alone offer an expression of thanks to the members who are not drawn from official agencies. It is very clear that “heritage” is a burden to the parent ministry.

Another player in the heritage game is INTACH — in the case of Delhi, its very active Delhi chapter. The chapter is like a terrier worrying at the ankles of government, without any power to act. It issued a Charter for Unprotected Heritage, which in its prose and presentation reads like a grand medieval charter, in total contrast to the shabby bylaws. But there is no way to implement the spirit of the charter.

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When “heritage” is subsumed under “urban development”, what is the likely outcome? Shock and awe at the prospect of a “world-class convention centre”, ignoring the fact that one of the examples of world-class architecture, that finds its place in histories of world architecture, is to be destroyed. The DUAC members have forgotten the vision of the legendary Patwant Singh that led to its formation, and the meaning of the term “urban art”. The HCC members have either been blinded by the harsh bright lights of a giant hall to seat thousands, or, worse, are simply not interested in honouring great works of architecture. The committee should be wound up because, instead of being concerned with either heritage or conservation, their sympathy is with real estate development.

More than anything, one feels stifled by the small minds and loud voices that equate size with greatness, whose “nationalism” does not extend to pride in one’s country’s great artists and architects and for whom the term “urban art” is neither exhilarating nor challenging.