Rabindranath Tagore’s ancestral house in Jorasanko, which is a heritage building. A Telegraph picture

The West Bengal Heritage Commission will soon start functioning as an independent body, which means it will not have to wait for the government’s consent to declare a building a “heritage structure”.

The West Bengal Heritage Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2007, passed by the Assembly on Tuesday, seeks to make the panel independent. The bill had proposed some changes to the West Bengal Heritage Commission Act, 2001.

The bill clarifies that the commission’s activities will not remain restricted to giving suggestions to the government. Instead, it will be entitled to take its own decisions and will have the power to implement them.

“Earlier, the commission could only identify a structure deserving the heritage tag and recommend the case to the government. Now, the commission has been empowered to take a decision on its own and make an announcement. It will not have to seek the government’s approval,” said the state parliamentary affairs minister, Sailen Sarkar, who tabled the bill.

“The West Bengal Heritage Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2007, has delegated more powers to the commission, so it can function independently,” he stressed.

The bill omits the provision relating to the eligibility for re-appointment of the chairperson or a member of the commission. It says that the chairperson or a member can be re-appointed depending on his/her performance.

Earlier, the tenure of the chairperson or the members could not be extended under any circumstance.

“The provision for re-appointment has been kept in the bill because we felt that experienced and knowledgeable people should be retained with the commission,” said Sarkar.

The House rejected an amendment moved by Trinamul Congress MLA Sougata Roy, who wanted to insert the word “structures” after “heritage building” in the Bill and the word “renovation” after “preservation”.

Questioning the commission’s activities, Roy said: “Over all these years, the commission has failed to even come up with a list of buildings and monuments of historical importance that could be given heritage status. Not a single ghat on the Hooghly is looked after properly.”

Gautam Sengupta, a member of the state heritage commission, said: “For the past year, we have been holding talks on the proposed changes. Now that the act has been amended, we have been armed with greater authority in discharging our responsibility towards heritage.”