The West Bengal Heritage Commission was constituted through an Act called The West Bengal Heritage Commission Act 2001 by the West Bengal State Legislative Assembly. The objective for creating such a Commission was to prepare an authentic list of buildings, monuments, precincts and sites as built heritage and to adopt measures for their restoration and preservation. It was realized that apart from the archaeological sites of ASI there were several other important structures bearing rich cultural heritage, which should be brought under enlistment.

The urgency of such a Commission came to the minds of intellectuals of the city when a number of iconic Calcutta buildings were demolished for construction of new buildings in the 1980’s. With the formation of the Heritage Commission, it became the only Commission of such nature in the entire country. The Commission deals with various issues related to the heritage structures that are not under the preview of Archaeological Survey of India or State Archeology Dept.

Also the other major activity of the Commission is to create awareness and sensitize general people for preservation of built heritage. The workshops, seminars heritage walks, inspections and site visits are organized by the Commission regularly to disseminate technical knowledge among the people about the proper ways of restoration of heritage buildings.