The National Monuments Authority (NMA) under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, has recognised the Center for Heritage Conservation (CHC) of CEPT University in Ahmedabad as one of the expert heritage bodies with powers to prepare bylaws to protect monuments.
The CHC of the CEPT Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) has previously assisted in heritage impact assessments for a number of prominent projects in Ahmedabad. It has also provided advice to the Agra Municipal Corporation on how to manage their heritage assets.
Ahmedabad was nominated as a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization World Heritage City, and members of the CHC team were instrumental in preparing the nomination dossier (Unesco).
Expert heritage bodies will work with the central government to prepare heritage bylaws concerning nationally important monuments and protected areas, according to Section 20E(1) of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act, 1958, as amended in 2010.
All nationally protected monuments have a 300-metre area around them demarcated as protected and regulated. Each of these sites is unique and needs some generic and some specific bylaws. The NMA has long been looking at this aspect and hopes to address it with the engagement of expert bodies across the country.
The recent notification included 34 such bodies into the panel of expert heritage bodies, including centres at the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) National Institute of Technology (NITs), Centre for Historical Houses at OP Jindal Global University in Haryana, Urban Design Research Institute in Mumbai among others.
The CRDF is CEPT University’s research and advisory arm. Through the CRDF, the University actively participates in research projects, advisory assignments, and capacity-building initiatives aimed at addressing critical issues in the built environment and improving people’s quality of life in towns and cities.