Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday held that there is “no documentary proof” that eminent poet Michael Madhusudan Dutt resided at 20B Karl Marx Sarani, directing the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to delist the property from its graded heritage list.Justice Rai Chattopadhyay observed: ” On one hand, monuments with historical value are required to be identified and preserved, on the other, it is also to be ascertained that such identification is based on only the authenticated, foolproof records of the events, on the basis of which, the property is desired to be earmarked as heritage.”The court rejected KMC’s reliance on a non-fiction work, Ramtanu Lahiri O Tatkaline Banga Samaj, and information from Wikipedia to justify the heritage tag, noting these went against the findings of the West Bengal Heritage Commission. Owners, represented by advocate Srijib Chakraborty, moved HC against KMC’s decision.
