After the historic Durbar Hall, Calcutta High Court?s focus has now shifted to the Angel of Victory atop Victoria Memorial.

The division bench of Justice A.K. Ganguly and Justice Tapan Kumar Dutt, hearing the Victoria Memorial Hall matter, passed an order on Monday asking the authorities of the 84-year-old monument to file a report on the famous figurine, commonly referred to as The Fairy, by October 5.

The bench wants a detailed report on the bugle-blowing bronze angel, perched above the 184-ft white marble building, said to be causing damage to a portion of the dome because of its lack of movement.

Weighing around three tonnes, the 16-ft angel had last twirled in the wind, briefly, in the early 1990s. Ever since, it has stood still, bugle to its lips, petitioner Subhas Dutta pointed out. And damage caused to a portion of the dome due to this triggered the court?s concern.

Jayanta Mitra, counsel representing the Memorial authorities, said: ?We are trying hard to rotate the fairy for the benefit of the structure. As the fairy no longer moves, a portion of the dome is getting damaged.?

According to Dutta, the ball bearing on which the fairy used to rotate is damaged, and so proper engineering expertise must be sought.

Last year, the Victoria Memorial authorities had handed over the task of making the fairy twirl to Jessop.

?We could not fix the problem, as the authorities did not give us the permission to remove four stone slabs, which was a must to access the bearing,? explained a Jessop spokesperson.

He, however, added that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has now agreed to the removal of slabs and the Victoria Memorial authorities have given the company the green signal to kick-start work in December.

?If we can start repair work in December, we can make the fairy twirl by end-January,? promised the spokesperson.

While placing its compliance report, ASI informed the court on Monday that seepage-repair work was in progress.

Creating a green buffer zone to minimise the incidence of air pollution was also discussed during the hearing.

The court on Monday asked G.S. Giri, joint director of Botanical Survey of India, to visit Citizen?s Park, bordering the Memorial, and ascertain whether uprooting of the trees planted in the garden by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation was possible.

Transplantation became necessary after the court found that the trees that have been planted were not protecting the monument from pollution.