Meherangir, the iconic bungalow at Malabar Hills in South Mumbai where the father of India’s Atomic Energy Department Homi J Bhabha lived with his brother Jamshed Bhabha, was on Wednesday auctioned off to an undisclosed Indian buyer at a price of Rs 372 crore, amidst vehement clamour in various quarters for converting the historic structure into a national museum.
The auction, held at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA), which is the custodian of the property, attracted a total of eight bids for the sprawling 17,550 sq ft property that provides a panoramic view of the Arabian Sea and the Hanging Gardens in the up-market Malabar Hills area. The property fetched Rs 115 crore more than the minimum reserve price of Rs 257 crore.
Of the eight bids received, three individuals finally bid when the auction opened on Wednesday morning. “The winning bidder is an Indian. At the request of the winner of the bid, we are not disclosing his identity at this stage,” sources in Jones lang lasalle said. The auction came ahead of the hearing of a petition filed by the BARC employees seeking conversion of the archaic bungalow, scheduled to be held before the Bombay High Court on Monday. There has been a fervent demand in various quarters that “Meherangir” be converted into a national museum. So much so that renowned scientist and Bharat Ratna awardee CNR Rao, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently supporting the BARC employees’ clamour for converting the bungalow into a national memorial.
Similarly, scientists like former Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar, and former CSIR director-general Raghunath Mashelkar had also supported the demand for preserving the bungalow as the legacy of late Homi Bhabha. On his part, Tata Group’s Ratan Tata - responding to a request of support from the BARC employees’ union - had written to the union saying that while he would “personally be pleased” to see the bungalow being preserved as a museum, but said he was not personally involved in the issue and hence could not assist them. In a related development, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had also backed the proposal to convert the bungalow into a museum. He has also written to Modi in this regard. last week, the BARC Employees’ Union moved the Bombay High Court seeking a stay on Wednesday’s auction, but the Bombay High Court refused to grant a stay and scheduled the hearing on June 23. The has indicated that if convinced by the arguments in the petition, it may declare the auction null and void.
Defending the auction of the property, KN Suntook, Chairman of the NCPA said: “First, Homi Bhabha was only a part owner of the property, along with his mother and his brother Jamshed Bhabha till his demise in 1966. The property subsequently devolved solely upon Jamshed, who bequeathed it absolutely to the NCPA by his will, which has since been probated,” Suntook said.
Jamshed Bhabha, who along with JRD Tata conceived and set up the NCPA, lived in the bungalow till 2007 when he passed away at the age of 93. Suntook dismissed BARC employees’ resistance to the auction of Meherangir by saying: “The stand taken by the employees is totally misplaced. If the BARC had so much concern, then they could have participated in the bidding. The BARC would be a more appropriate place for a museum on atomic energy.
“As far as NCPA is concerned, we are acting only as per the probated will left by Dr Bhabha and the specific instructions contained in his will. The matter is sub-judice and let the High Court take a view on this on Monday.”
According to Suntook, the proceeds from the auction will be used by the NCPA for modernization of the theatres in the NCPA complex, upgradation of the equipment and expand its activities. The proceeds would also go into starting a new educational institution and creating a bank of instruments.