Ancient Monuments Preservation Act, 1904
No: 7 Dated: Mar, 18 1904
THE ANCIENT MONUMENTS PRESERVATION ACT, 1904
ACT NO. 7 OF 1904
An Act to provide for the preservation of Ancient Monuments and of objects of archaeological, historical, or artistic interest.
WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for the preservation of ancient monuments, for the exercise of control over traffic in antiquities and over excavation in certain places, and for the protection and acquisition in certain cases of ancient monuments and of objects of archaeological, historical or artistic interest;
It is hereby enacted as follows:—
1. Short title and extent.—(1) This Act may be called the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act, 1904.
(2) It extends to the whole of India
2. Definitions.—In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,—
(1) “ancient monument” means any structure, erection or monument or any tumulus or place of interment, or any cave, rock-sculpture, inscription or monolith, which is of historical, archeological or artistic interest, or any remains thereof, and includes—
(a) the site of an ancient monument;
(b) such portion of land adjoining the site of an ancient monument as may be required for fencing or covering in or otherwise preserving such monument; and
(c) the means of access to and convenient inspection of an ancient monument:
(2) “antiquities” include any moveable objects which the Central Government, by reason of their historical or archeological associations, may think it necessary to protect against injury, removal or dispersion:
(3) “Commissioner” includes any officer authorised by the Central Government to perform the duties of a Commissioner under this Act:
(4) “maintain” and “maintenance” include the fencing, covering in, repairing, restoring and cleansing of a protected monument, and the (doing of any act which may be necessary for the purpose of maintaining a protected monument or of securing convenient access thereto:
(5) “land” includes a revenue-free estate, a revenue-paying estate, and a permanent transferable tenure, whether such estate or tenure be subject to incumbrances or not: and
(6) “owner” includes a joint owner invested with powers of management on behalf of himself and other joint owners, and any manager or trustee exercising powers of management over an ancient monument, and the successor in title of any such owner and the successor in office of any such manager or trustee:
Provided that nothing in this Act shall be deemed to extend the powers which may lawfully be exercised by such manager or trustee.
3. Protected monuments.—(1) The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare an ancient monument to be a protected monument within the meaning of this Act.
(2) A copy of every notification published under sub-section (1) shall be fixed up in a conspicuous place on or near the monument, together with an intimation that any objections to the issue of the notification received by the Central Government within one month from the date when it is so fixed up will be taken into consideration.
(3) On the expiry of the said period of one month, the Central Government, after considering the objections, if any, shall confirm or withdraw the notification.
(4) A notification published under this section shall, unless and until it is withdrawn, be conclusive evidence of the fact that the monument to which it relates is an ancient monument within the meaning of this Act.