Rare Tagore works to be auctioned

Rare works of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore will go under the hammer at leading auction house Sotheby's on June 15, prompting protests from a London-based centre dedicated to the poet's works.
        
In all, 12 paintings will be presented for sale by the Dartington Hall Trust, a charitable organisation located at the Dartington Hall estate, near Totnes in South Devon in the UK.
        
Funds raised will be used to support the Trust's ambitious new plans to expand its charitable programmes in arts, social justice and sustainability.
        
Sotheby's set a pre-sale price of around 250,000 pounds for the works.
        
Vaughan Lindsay, CEO of the Dartington Hall Trust, said proceeds from the sales will fund "an ambitious new programme of investment in our estate."
        
However, a spokesperson for the London-based Tagore Centre said they were angry over the reports of the auction.
        
"I have called the High Commission to intervene to ensure that these national treasures are returned to India," he said.