Why the Punjab and Haryana High Court cannot expand without a UNESCO clearance

Background

Chief secretaries from Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh have been invited by the Centre to a meeting on November 16 about enlarging the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The building cannot simply be extended, because it stands inside the Capitol Complex of Chandigarh, designed by Le Corbusier. That complex became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2016, and the High Court is an integral part of it. This expansion therefore needs clearance from UNESCO, even after the Centre has approved it. The World Heritage Committee, at its 45th session in Riyadh in 2023, put the expansion on hold, citing possible harm to the outstanding universal value of the site, and UNESCO also turned down a plan for underground parking there that year. The plan was then redesigned so that the skyline of the heritage building stays as it is, and the modified version has gone to UNESCO for clearance. The inscription is shared across countries, so the Chandigarh Administration held talks with six partner nations at Geneva to seek their consent for any change