Ancient Monuments Protection Act
Definitions
(a) Ancient Monuments 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, archaeological or artistic interest and which has been in existence for not less than one hundred years, and includes-
(i) the remains of an ancient monument.
(ii) the site of an ancient monument,
(iii) 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
(iv) the means of access to, and convenient inspection of, an ancient monument;
(b) Antiquity includes-
(i) any coin, sculpture , manuscript, 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, and
(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;
(c)Aarchaeological officer means an officer of the Department of Archaeology of the Government of India not lower in rank than Assistant Superintendent of Archaeology;
(d) Archaeological site and remains means any area which contains or is reasonably believed to contain ruins or relics of historical or archaeological importance which have been in existence for not less than one hundred years, and includes-
(i) such portion of land adjoining the area as may be required for fencing or covering in or otherwise preserving it, and
(ii) the means of access to, and convenient inspection of, the area;
(e) Director-General means the Director-General of Archaeology, and includes any officer authorized by the Central Government to perform the duties of the Director-General;
(f) \"maintain, with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, includes the fencing, covering in, repairing, restoring and cleansing of a protected monument, and the doing of any act which may be necessary for the porpoise of preserving a protected monument or of securing convenient access thereto;
(g) \"owner\" includes-
(i) a joint owner invested with powers of management on behalf of himself and other joint owners and the successor-in-title of any such owner; and
(ii) any manager or trustee exercising powers of management and the successor-in-office of any such manager or trustee;
(h) \"prescribed\" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(i) \"protected area\" means any archaeological site and remains which is declared to be of national importance by or under this Act;
(j) \"protected monument\" means an ancient monument which is declared to be of national importance by or under this Act.
Monuments of National Importance
ANCIENT MONUMENTS AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES AND REMAINS OF NATIONAL IMPORTANCE
3.Certain ancient monuments, etc., deemed to be of national importance.-
All ancient and historical monuments and all archaeological sites and remains which have been declared by the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Declaration of National Importance) Act, 1951 (71 of 1951), or by section 126 of the States Reorganization Act, 1956 (37 of 1956), to be of national importance shall be deemed to be ancient and historical monuments or archaeological sites and remains declared to be of national importance for the purposes of this Act.
Prohibiting contravention of agreement under section 6.- 10.Power to make order prohibiting contravention of agreement under section 6.-
(1) If the Director-General apprehends that the owner or occupier of a protected monument intends to destroy, remove, alter, 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 Director-General 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 Director-General, for reasons to be recorded, 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 Central
Government within such time and in such manner as may be prescribed and the decision of the Central Government shall be final.
Power to make rules 38.Power to make rules.-
(1) The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette and subject to the condition of previous publication, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.
(2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:-
(a) the prohibition or regulation by licensing or otherwise of mining, quarrying, excavating blasting or any operation of a like nature near a protected monument or the construction of buildings on land adjoining such monument and the removal of unauthorized buildings;
(b) the grant of licenses and permissions to make excavations for archaeological purposes in protected areas, the authorities by whom, and the retractions and conditions subject to which, such licenses may be granted, the taking of securities from licensees and the fees that may be charged for such licensees;
(c) the right of access of the public to a protected monument and the fee, if any, to be charged therefore;
(d) the form and contends of the report of an archaeological officer or a licensee under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 23;
(e) the form in which application s for permission under section 19 or section 25 may be made and the particulars which they should contain
(f) the form and manner of preferring appeals under this Act and the time within which they may be preferred;
(g) the manner of service of any order or notice under this Act;
(h) the manner in which excavations and other like operations for archaeological purposes may be carried on;
(i) any other matter which is to be or may be prescribed.
(3) Any rule made under this section may provide that a breach thereof shall be punishable,-
(i) in the case of a rule made with reference to clause (a) of sub-section (2), with imprisonment which may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees, or with both;
(ii) in the case of a rule made with reference to clause (b) of sub-section (2), with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees;
(iii) in the case of a rule made with reference to clause (c) of sub-section (2), with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees.
(4) All rules made under this section shall be laid for not less than thirty days before each House of Parliament as soon as possible after they are made, and shall be subject to such modifications as Parliament may make during the session in which they are so laid or the session immediately following