MUMBAI, July 13 -- The Bombay high court on Thursday directed the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) to reconstruct the finial (ornamental device atop a building) of the JN Petit Institute, an iconic neo-gothic structure on DN Road in Fort. The nearly 100-year-old finial had collapsed in 2017 during drilling and construction work for the Hutatma Chowk metro station. The institute's building, which houses a public library, is classified as a grade II-A heritage structure, accorded to buildings/ precincts of regional or local importance which are recognised for their special architectural/ aesthetic merit, or cultural/ historical significance. In the petition, the trustees of the institute claimed that MMRCL and its contractor, Larsen & Toubro, had failed to install proper machinery for monitoring structural stability of the heritage building before commencing construction work. The work was halted after the finial collapsed in August 2017, and a four-member committee which subsequently probed the matter recommended that precautions be taken before work could begin again. The court observed that the building and the surrounding DN Road precinct were of historical and architectural significance. "Whilst the march of development and infrastructural projects cannot be halted in a city like Mumbai, such a march cannot be permitted to run roughshod over the concerns of preserving and maintaining heritage buildings for posterity," court said....