Regulations of Heritage conservation Authority too laid down
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, May 8: Though rules are imperative for better implementation of any legislation yet in the monuments rich Jammu and Kashmir the same for a vital piece of legislation— Ancient Monuments Preservation Act remained out of focus of the successive Governments during the last 92 years. But, the same have now been prepared and are being submitted to the Law Department for vetting and notification in the Government Gazette.
The Ancient Monuments Preservation Act was enacted in this erstwhile princely State during the tenure of Maharaja Hari Singh in 1920 AD and thereafter this vital piece of legislation failed to receive any attention of the successive Governments despite the fact that there is a provision for the framing of rules under Section 20-B and 23 of the Act.
“In the absence of proper rules, several vital points vis-à-vis preservation of monuments of the State remained amorphous and monuments were being declared State protected only by way of issuance of notification. Even it was not clearly defined as to how much old a monument should be for declaration as State protected one”, official sources told EXCELSIOR.
It was only in the year 2010 that this Act received the attention of Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, and Culture Minister, Nawang Rigjin Jora, who got the legislation updated by getting it amended in the State Legislature.
Since rules function as beacon light for proper implementation of any piece of legislation, the Government also felt it imperative to get the rules of Ancient Monuments Preservation Act, 1920 framed. Accordingly, Commissioner Secretary, Tourism and Culture, Atal Duloo assigned this task to some officers headed by former Director General of the Department of Archives, Archaeology and Museums and presently Consultant in the Culture Ministry, Khursheed Ahmed Qadiri.
The exercise of framing rules came to an end in the recent past following which the Department of Archives, Archeology and Museums put the rules in public domain for inviting objections or suggestions, sources informed, adding now this exercise has also come to an end and very shortly the rules are being submitted to the Law Department for vetting and then issuance of SRO and publication of the same in the Government Gazette.
When contacted, Khursheed Ahmed Qadiri, Consultant in the Ministry of Culture confirmed that rules of J&K Ancient Monuments Preservation Act have been framed and are being forwarded to Law Department shortly.
“In the rules, we have clearly defined the procedure required to be adopted for declaration of any monument as State protected”, he said, adding “there was not much clarity on several points but now the rules will properly guide the Department of Archives, Archaeology and Museums for proper implementation of the Act in the monuments rich State”.
As per the rules, the Department of Archives, Archaeology and Museums can impose certain prohibitions in order to protect the monuments in better way. It can also impose fee for visit to the monuments. Under the rules, permission would have to be obtained before any sort of excavation in and around the monuments.
Moreover, permission would have to be obtained for removal of anything from the monuments besides filming and photography of the monuments.
Besides rules of J&K Ancient Monuments Preservation Act, regulations of J&K Heritage Conservation and Preservation Authority have also been framed and being forwarded to the Law Department for vetting.
“The regulations will govern the functioning of the Authority, guide in survey, listing and grading of the tangible and intangible heritage of the State”, sources said.
It is pertinent to mention here that a total of 43 monuments in the State have already been declared as State Protected while as process for seven others is going on. The latest addition in the list of State Protected Monuments is Bamiyan type Buddha in Kargil district. This is perhaps the first State Protected Monument from the Ladakh region.
The Department of Archives, Archaeology and Museums has already identified 651 heritage places and monuments, which can be considered for declaration of State Protected.
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