4 months ago
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The Madras High Court connected Thursday expressed displeasure implicit Tamil Nadu authorities not having constituted a practice committee for protecting age-old buildings, and specified premises not being covered nether the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act of 1958 and the Tamil Nadu Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act of 1966, contempt aggregate tribunal orders and fixation of timelines.
A peculiar Division Bench of Justices R. Suresh Kumar and S. Sounthar, constituted to perceive temple related cases, said, the hold successful constituting the committee contempt a judicial bid passed successful October 2025, to represent it wrong 4 weeks, lone indicates the reluctance of the government. They said specified a committee was indispensable to o.k. civilian works successful galore age-old temples that bash not autumn nether the 1958 and 1966 legislations.
When the tribunal was informed that a notification was published successful the Tamil Nadu Archaeology section website calling for applications to the station of chairperson of the commisision and that truthful far, 5 applications had been received, the judges wondered however could the authorities expect the eminent persons connected the taxable to sojourn the website connected a regular ground to cognize astir the notification.
They besides attempted to work the notification successful the unfastened tribunal but recovered that the Tamil Nadu archaeology section website www.tnarch.gov.in could not beryllium reached.
Hence, they directed the authorities to people a caller notification wrong a week successful starring quality dailies and assistance 2 weeks’ clip for submission of applications. Thereafter, the committee indispensable beryllium constituted wrong 4 weeks and nary civilian works indispensable beryllium carried retired successful the property aged temples without its approval, judges said portion passing interim orders connected a writ petition filed by temple activistic T.R. Ramesh.
The Tamil Nadu Heritage Commission Act of 2012 was passed by the State legislature to sphere practice structures successful the State. However, erstwhile the committee was not constituted for agelong contempt the passing of the legislation, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) filed a nationalist involvement litigation petition successful the High Court successful 2019 for constitution of the committee astatine the earliest.
When the PIL petition was heard successful February 2024 by the archetypal Division Bench comprising the past Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy, the judges were shocked to find that the 2012 Act had not been brought to unit astatine all.
“Twelve years is not tiny a play for not implementing the Act. The precise entity of promulgating the Act volition beryllium frustrated if the aforesaid is not brought into force,” the judges wrote.
Thereafter, the authorities brought the Act into unit but did not represent the committee forcing the Division Bench led by Justice Suresh Kumar to hole a clip bounds of 4 weeks, successful October 2025, for constitution of the commission.
The 2012 Act states that the practice committee indispensable beryllium chaired by an eminent idiosyncratic with interest and committedness for practice conservation, to beryllium nominated by the Government, and should dwell of not much than 16 members including the Tourism Secretary, Housing Secretary, Municipal Administration Secretary, Rural Development Secretary, Law Secretary, Commissioner of Museums and truthful on.
