Prabha Sridevan, J.

This writ petition has been filed in public interest by the Indian National Trust for Architectural and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), a nation wide non-profit membership organisation set up in the year 1984 to protect and conserve Indias vast natural and cultural heritage. The present public interest litigation is for protection of the Bharath Insurance Building from being demolished without applying the provisions of Rule 22 of the Development Control Rules for Chennai Metropolitan Area, 2004.

.2. The Bharath Building, which is presently owned and rented out by the Life Insurance Corporation, is a landmark building recognised as a symbol of heritage conservations losing battle in the city and State. The history of the building may have to be set out at this juncture. The Bharat Buildings story goes back to 1868 when W.E. Smith, a pharmacist, arrived in Madras and, finding enough pharmacies and more in business in the city, proceeded to Ooty where he set up shop. The success of the Ooty pharmacy and other branches in the Blue Mountains made Smith decide not only to look at Madras again, but also set up a shop the city would not forget. On the site tha