Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972
No: 52 Dated: Sep, 09 1972
Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972
-: ACT :-
1. (1) This Act may be called the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972.
(2) It extends to the whole of India.
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act and for different States and any reference in any such provision to the commencement of this Act shall be construed as a reference to the coming into force of that provision.
2. (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires-
(1) (a)"antiquity" includes
(i) any coin, sculpture, painting epigraph or other work of art or craftsmanship;
(ii) any article, object or thing detached from a building or cave;
(iii) any article, object or thing illustrative of science, art, crafts, literature, religion, customs, morals or politics in bygone ages;
(iv)any article, object or thing of historical interest;
(v) any article, object or thing declared by the Central Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, to be an antiquity for the purposes of this Act,
which has been in existence for not less than one hundred years; and any manuscript, record or other document which is of scientific, historical, literary or aesthetic value and which has been in existence for not less than seventy-five years;
(b) "art treasure" means any human work of art, not being an antiquity, declared by the Central Government by notification in the Official Gazette, to be an art treasure for the purposes of this Act having regard to its artistic or aesthetic value:
Provided that no declaration under this clause shall be made in respect of any such work of art so long as the author thereof is alive;
(c) "export" means taking out of India to a place outside India;
(d) "licensing officer" means an officer appointed as such under section 6;
(e) "registering officer" means an officer appointed as such under section 15;
(f) "prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act.