Mumbai, May 9 -- Based on Hindustan Times' May 5 story on the possibility of demolition of Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar's residence, Savarkar Sadan, in Shivaji Park, a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday seeking heritage status for the building. The PIL also seeks the court's intervention in declaring Savarkar Sadan a "monument of national importance" and formulating a special compensation policy for inhabitants of the building. The petitioner, Abhinav Bharat Congress, is an "independent public policy think tank". According to its website, it is committed to realising the dream of "an absolutely independent sovereign nation; nurtured in the East by Brahmaputra and by Sindhu in the West, guarded by the Himalayas in the North and by the Indian Ocean in the South." As reported by HT, Savarkar Sadan, which houses a mini museum dedicated to Savarkar on the ground floor, may be razed as some property owners are in talks with a builder for redeveloping the building. Two adjacent plots are likely to be amalgamated for the redevelopment project - one houses Laxmi Sadan, where renowned classical vocalist Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki once resided, while the other faces the Chhatrapati Shivaji Park. The petition cites the HT report, stating, "...the petitioner was startled to see a report in a prominent newspaper about imminent demolition of Savarkar Sadan quoting three reliable sources." It refers to the high court's directions to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in October 2008 to decide on heritage status for Savarkar Sadan within 12 weeks. The Heritage Conservation Committee also recommended the same, the petition notes, stating, "It is ironic that 17 years later, the same argument has to be repeated in the backdrop of the terror attack at Pahalgam." The petition also mentions multiple efforts made by the petitioner since 2008 to get heritage 'grade II A' status for historic building, "same as Jinah House built by Mr Mohammad Ali Jinnah". "Petitioner has also filed a petition in the honourable high court of Delhi against ministry of culture to facilitate grant of monument of national importance to Savarkar Sadan and other monuments which are not 100 years old," the synopsis of the petition states. It names as respondents the state of Maharashtra through the principal secretary; the urban development 2 department, which has been sitting on the file pertaining to heritage status for the building since 2010; the municipal commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation; the Mumbai commissioner of police; and the union of India (secretary, ministry of culture). According to the petitioner and its authorised representative, Prof Pankaj Phadnis, the PIL seeks to ensure that the apathy of the Maharashtra government to the cause of preserving Savarkar's memory does not result in demolition of Savarkar Sadan. "Plea has been moved for an urgent hearing," Prof Phadnis told HT. He plans to visit the site of the terror attack in Pahalgam on Savarkar's 143rd birth anniversary on May 28 to raise public awareness about him and his erstwhile residence. The PIL will be heard by a bench of justices Chandurkar and Neela Gokhale on Thursday....