Chapter II PROTECTED MONUMENTS

All ancient and historical monuments in the State of Gujarat, which before the commencement of this Act have been declared by or under the Saurashtra Ancient Monuments Preservation Act, 1956 to be protected monuments, and have not been declared by or under any law made by Parliament to be of national importance, shall be deemed to be protected monuments for the purposes of this Act.

(1) Where the State Government is of opinion that any ancient and historical monument not included in section 3 and not declared by or under any law made by Parliament to be of national importance, should be a protected monument, it may, by notification in the Official Gazette, give two months' notice of its intention to declare such monument to be a protected monument; and a copy of every such notification shall be affixed in a conspicuous place near the monument.

(2) If any person interested in any such monument has any objection to the monument being declared as a protected monument, he may, within two months of the publication of the notification under sub-section (1), submit his objection in writing, to the State Government.

(3) On the expiry of the said period of two months, the State Government may, after considering the objections, if any, received under sub-section (2), declare by notification in the Official Gazette the ancient and historical monument to be a protected monument.

(4) A notification published under sub-section (3) shall, unless and until it is withdrawn by the State Government, be conclusive evidence of the fact that the ancient and historical monument to which it relates is a protected monument for the purposes of this Act.

(1) The Collector may, with the sanction of the State Government, purchase, or take a lease of, or accept a gift or bequest of, any protected monument.

(2) Where a protected monument is without an owner, the Collector may, by notification in the Official Gazette, assume the guardianship of the monument.

(3) The owner of any protected monument may, by written instrument, constitute the Collector the guardian of the monument, and the Collector may, with the sanction of the State Government, accept such guardianship.

(4) When the Collector has accepted the guardianship of a protected monument under sub-section (3), the owner shall, except as expressly provided by this Act, have the same estate, right, title and interest in or to the monument, as if the Collector had not been constituted a guardian thereof.

(5) When the Collector has accepted the guardianship of a protected monument under sub-section (3), the provisions of this Act relating to agreements executed under section 6 shall apply to the written instrument executed under the said sub-section.

(6) Nothing in this section shall affect the use of any protected monument for customary religious observances.

(1) The Collector may, with the previous sanction of the State Government, propose to the owner of a protected monument to enter into an agreement with the State Government, within a specified period, for the maintenance of the monument.

(2) Any agreement under this section may provide for all or any of the following matters, that is to say.—

(a) the maintenance of the monument;

(b) the custody of the monument, and the duties of any person who may be employed to watch it;

(c) the restriction of the owner's right —

(i) to use the monument for any purpose,

(ii) to charge any fee for entry into, or inspection of, the monument.

(iii) to destroy, remove, alter or deface the monument, or

(iv) to build on or near the site of the monument;

(d) the facilities of access to be permitted to the public, or any section thereof, or to persons deputed by the owner, the Director or the Collector, to inspect or maintain the monument;

(e) the notice to be given to the State Government in case the land on which the monument is situated or any adjoining land is offered for sale by the owner, and the right to be reserved to the State Government to purchase such land, or any specified portion of such land, at its" market value;

(f) the payment of any expenses incurred by the owner or by the State Government in connection with the maintenance of the monument;

(g) the proprietory or other rights which are to vest in the State Government in respect of the monument when any expenses are incurred by the State Government in connection with the maintenance of the monument;

(h) the appointment of an authority to decide any dispute arising out of the agreement; and

(i) any matter connected with the maintenance of the monument which is a proper subject of agreement between the owner and the State Government.

(3) The State Government or the owner may, at any time after the expiration of three years from the date of execution of an agreement under this section, terminate it on giving six months' notice in writing to the other party:

Provided that, where the agreement is terminated by the owner, he shall pay to the State Government the expenses, if any, incurred by it on the maintenance of the monument during the five years immediately preceding the termination of the agreement or, if the agreement has been in force for a shorter period, during the period the agreement was in force.

(4) An agreement under this section shall be binding on any person claiming to be the owner of the monument to which it relates, from, through or under a party by whom or on whose behalf the agreement was executed.

(1) If the owner of a protected monument is unable, by reason of infancy or other disability, to act for himself, the person legally competent to act oft his behalf may exercise the powers conferred upon an owner under section 6.

(2) In the case of village property, the headman or other village officer exercising powers of management over such property may exercise the powers conferred upon an owner under section 6.

(3) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to empower any person, riot being of the same religion as the person on whose behalf he is acting, to make or execute an agreement relating to a protected monument which, or any part of which, is periodically used for religious worship or observances of that religion.

(1) If any owner or other person competent to enter into an agreement under section 6 for the maintenance of a protected monument refuses or fails to enter into such an agreement, and if any endowment has been created for the purpose of keeping such monument in repair, or for that purpose among others, the State Government may institute a suit in the court of the district judge, or, if the estimated cost of repairing the monument docs not exceed one thousand rupees, may make an application to the district judge, for the proper application of such endowment or part thereof.

(2) On the hearing of an application under sub-section (I), the district judge may summon and examine the owner and any person whose evidence appears to him necessary, and may pass an order for the proper application of the endowment or of any part thereof, and any such order may be executed as if it were a decree of a civil court.

(1) If any owner or oilier person competent to enter into an agreement under section 6 for the maintenance of a protected monument refuses or fails to enter into such an agreement, the State Government may make an order providing for all or any of the matters specified in sub-section (2) of section 6, and such order shall be binding on the owner or such other person, and on every person claiming title to the monument from, through or under the owner or such other person.

(2) Where an order made under sub-section (1) provides that the monument shall be maintained by the owner or other person competent to enter into an agreement, all reasonable expenses for the maintenance of the monument shall be payable by the State Government.

(3) No order under sub-section (1) shall be made unless the owner or other person has been given an opportunity of making a representation in writing against the proposed order.

(1) If the Collector apprehends that the owner or occupier of a protected monument intends to destroy, remove, after, deface, imperil or misuse the monument or to build on or near the site thereof in contravention of the terms of an agreement under section 6, the Collector may, after giving the owner or occupier an opportunity of making a representation in writing, make an order prohibiting any such contravention of the agreement:

Provided that no such opportunity may be given in any case where the Collector, for reasons to be recorded in writing, is satisfied that it is not expedient or practicable to do so.

(2) Any person aggrieved by an order under this section may appeal to the State Government within such time and in such manner as may be prescribed, and the decision of the State Government shall be final.

(1) If the owner or other person who is bound by an agreement for the maintenance of a monument under section 6 refuses or fails, within such reasonable time as the Collector may fix, to do any act which in the opinion of the Collector is necessary for the maintenance of the monument, the Collector may authorise any person to do any such act, and the owner or other person shall be liable to pay the expenses of doing any such act, or such portion of the expenses as the owner may be liable to pay under the agreement.

(2) If any dispute arises regarding the amount of expenses payable by the owner or other person under sub-section (1), it shall be referred to the State Government whose decision shall be final

Every person who purchases at a sale for arrears of land revenue or any other public demand, any land on which is situated a monument in respect of which any instrument has been executed by the owner for the time being under section 5 or section 6, and every person claiming any title to a monument from, through or under, an owner who executed any such instrument, shall be bound by such instrument.

If the State Government apprehends that a protected monument is in danger of being destroyed, injured, misused or allowed to fall into decay, it may acquire the protected monument under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, as if the maintenance of the protected monument were a public purpose within the meaning of that Act.

(1) The State Government shall maintain every monument which has been acquired under section 13, or in respect of which any of the rights mentioned in section 5 have been acquired.

(2) When the Collector has assumed the guardianship of a monument under section 5, he shall for the purpose of maintaining such monument, have access to the monument at all reasonable times, by himself and by his agents, sub-ordinates and workmen, for the purpose of inspecting the monument, and for the purpose of bringing such materials and doing such acts as he may consider necessary or desirable for the maintenance thereof.

The Director may receive voluntary contribution, towards the cost of maintaining a protected monument, and may give orders as to the management and application of any funds so received by him :

Provided that, no contribution received under this section shall be applied to any purpose other than the purpose for which it was contributed.

(1) A protected monument maintained by the State Government under this Act, which is a place of worship or shrine, shall not be used for any purpose inconsistent with its character,

(2) Where the State Government has acquired a protected monument under section 13, or where the Collector has purchased, or taken a lease or accepted a gift or bequest, or assumed guardianship, of a protected monument under section 5, and such monument or any part thereof is used for religious worship or observances by any community, the Collector shall make due provision for the protection of such monument or part thereof, from pollution or desecration-

(a) by prohibiting the entry therein except in accordance with the conditions prescribed with the concurrence of the persons, if any, in charge of the said monument or part thereof, and connected with any religious practice or observances in relation thereto, of any person not entitled so to enter by the religious usages of the community by which the monument or part thereof is used, or

(b) by taking such other action as he may think necessary in this behalf.

(1) If in respect of any protected monument of which the State Government is the sole owner, the State Government is of opinion that it is of local importance only and that the ownership thereof may be transferred, without detriment to public interest, to the local authority within whose territorial jurisdiction it is situated, the Government may, by an order publish in the Official Gazette, transfer the ownership of such monument to such local authority with the consent of that authority, subject to such terms and conditions as may be specified in such order.

(2) The local authority to which a protected monument is transferred under sub-section (1) shall maintain such monument.

(3) If the State Government is satisfied that a protected monument, the ownership of which is transferred to a local authority under sub-section (/), is not being properly maintained by the local authority or that the local authority has committed breach of any of the terms and conditions specified in the order made under sub-section (1) or that it is otherwise necessary to do so in public interest, it shall be lawful for the State Government to resume the ownership of such protected monument.

(4) Notwithstanding the transfer of ownership of any protected monument to a local authority, the State Government may, from time to time, issue such directions as it may think fit to such local authority in regard to the maintenance and preservation of such protected monument and the local authority shall comply with such directions.

(5) Nothing in this section shall apply to a protected monument of the description mentioned in section 16.

Explanation.--In this section, "local authority" means a municipal corporation, a municipality or a district panchayat constituted under any law for the time being in force.

(1) If the State Government is of opinion that for the purpose of preserving the reasonable amenities of any protected monument, it is necessary so to do, the State Government may, subject to the provisions of this section, by notification in the Official Gazette, in respect of any area comprising or adjacent to the site of such monument specified in such notification (hereinafter referred to as "the controlled area")—

(a) prohibit or restrict the construction, erection or execution of building, structures and other works above ground within the controlled area, or the alteration or extension of any such buildings, structures, or works in such manner as materially to affect their external appearance;

(b) prescribe the position, height, size, design, materials, colour and screening and otherwise regulate the external appearance of buildings, structures and other works above ground within the controlled area;

(c) require any local authority —

(i) to construct any approach road to any protected monument, or

(ii) to demolish any public convenience vesting in it, that is to say, a latrine, urinal, dustbin, rubbish dump and the like, located close to or in the vicinity of any protected monument;

(d) prohibit or restrict the felling of trees within the controlled area:

(e) otherwise restrict the user of land within the controlled area to such extent as is necessary for the purpose of preserving the reasonable amenities of the protected monument;

(f) provide for such matters as appear to the State Government to be incidental to or consequential on the foregoing provisions of this section, or to be necessary for giving effect to those provisions.

(2) Not less than forty-five days before issuing a notification under sub-section (1), the State Government shall cause to be published in the Official Gazette, in the controlled area, and in the village and at the headquarters of the taluka or mahal of the district in which the controlled area is situated, a notification stating that it proposes to issue a notification in terms of sub-section (1), together with a notice requiring all persons affected by such notification, who wish to make any objection to the issuing of such a notification, to submit their objections in writing to the State Government or appear before any officer duly authorised in that behalf to hear objections on behalf of the State Government, within one month of the publication of the notification in the Official Gazette, or within fifteen days from the date of the publication of the notification in the controlled area, whichever period expires later.

(3) If on the expiration of the time allowed by sub-section (2) for the filing of objections, no objection has been made, the State Government shall proceed at once to issue the notification under sub-section (1). If any such objection has been made, the State Government may after all the objections have been considered or heard, as the case may be, either —

(a) abandon the proposal to issue the notification under sub-section (1): or

(b) issue the notification under sub-section (1) with such modifications (if any) as it thinks fit.

(4) The decision of the State Government on the question of issuing the notification under sub-section (1) shall be final and conclusive.

(5) Nothing contained in any notification under sub-section (7) shall affect any building, structure or other work above ground or any alteration or extension thereof, if it was constructed, erected, or executed before the date when notice of intention to issue such a notification was given under sub-section (2), and for the purpose of this provision a building, structure, or other work and any alteration or extension thereof shall be deemed to have been constructed, erected or executed before that date—

(a) if its construction, erection or execution was begun before that date, or

(b) if, and so far as, its construction, erection or execution was necessary for the purpose of performing a contract made before that date.

(6) Any person whose property is injuriously affected by the coming into force of a notification under sub-section (1) shall, subject to the provisions of section 27, be entitled to obtain compensation in respect thereof from the State Government.

With the sanction of the State Government, the Collector may,—

(a) where rights have been acquired by the Collector in respect of any monument under this Act by virtue of any sale, lease, gift or bequest, relinquish by notification in the Official Gazette, the rights so acquired to the person who would for the time being be the owner of the monument, if such rights had not been acquired; or

(b) relinquish any guardianship of a monument which he has assumed under this Act.

Subject to any rules made under this Act, the public shall have a right of access to any protected monument.