Following reports published in the Star City Md Khalequzzaman, deputy director, DoA said that they would send a letter to DC office asking them to cancel the lease. The letter is yet to be issued.

The deputy director had earlier said that the Shankhanidhi House, built in 1921 at Tipu Sultan Road in the old part of the city was listed by DoA as a historically protected site and his department would soon write to the DC office for cancellation of the lease it had issued in 2002.

When contacted yesterday Khalequzzaman first said that they had sent a 'letter' to the DC office on Wednesday (May 9) whose content was the list of protected sites in the city.

"Before taking any official measure we first need our regional office to conduct an investigation so that we may start an action plan," he said.

Defying the law ADC Revenue office of DC office leased out two-thirds of this listed archaeological heritage building on February 2, 2002.

ADC Revenue Shamima Yasmin yesterday said that they could only cancel the lease if the DoA notifies them. "But we have not received any communication from the DoA in this regard," Yasmin said.

Shankhanidhi House, a building with significant architectural features on Tipu Sultan Road in the city now houses an automobile workshop, lube shops, two families and an office of workshop owners association.

Present inhabitants of the house have changed its original features according to their whims while an automobile workshop rented out by lessees in the ground floor has blackened the beautiful courtyard.

According to an inscription, whitewashed at present, it was built in 1921 by two merchant brothers Lal Mohan Saha and Gaur Nitai Saha.