The Madras High Court’s building committee, comprising four judges, has decided to write to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to shift an ancient tomb situated on the court premises so that around two acres of vacant land could be used for constructing a multi-level parking lot for lawyers and litigants.
Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari, too, has requested ASI counsel G. Karthikeyan to ensure that the committee’s representation was considered at the earliest since parking of vehicles on the court campus is a major problem. The vehicles are now parked in a haphazard manner all over the campus.
The Chief Justice said that during his tenure at the Allabahad High Court in 2020, a decision was taken to construct chambers for advocates and a multi-level parking facility on over 20 lakh square feet of land at a cost of over ₹500 crore. More than 2,200 chambers and a facility to park 2,300 cars and 1,500 two-wheelers are under construction now. A similar facility could be created on the Madras High Court campus if the tomb was relocated.
When contacted, court officials said the tomb had been constructed during the British regime in the 17th Century. It was now hampering infrastructure development due to the restrictions on new constructions within a 100-metre radius.
The body of Joseph Hynmer, a senior member in the council of Fort St. George, who died in 1680, had been buried over there. His widow Catherine married his friend Elihu Yale who served as the Governor of Madras from 1687 to 1692. The couple’s son Jacca David Elihu Yale died at the age of four in 1688, and the child's body was also buried next to Hynmer’s grave.
A tomb, consisting of an obelisk built over a chamber, was raised over the two graves. It had been built with brick and lime mortar and the superstructure had risen in five levels to get a tapering shape. It was declared a centrally protected monument in 1921 and later under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958.
If the move to shift the tomb does not fructify, the court has planned to construct a multi-level car parking facility on 1.83 acres of Metropolitan Transport Corporation land, near the Harbour MLA's office, that had been acquired by the State government and handed over to the High Court a couple of years ago.
The court also has plans to shift the Sessions Courts, City Civil Courts, Family Courts and Small Causes courts, which are now functioning on the High Court campus, to around 7 acres that has been promised by the government and to put the heritage building that once housed the Madras Law College to the best use.
There are plans to shift the Esplanade police station, too, out of the High Court campus.
