SC reserves verdict on 2004 plea on Indian Museum Kolkata

Supreme Court today reserved its verdict on a 2004 petition seeking among other things physical verification of ancient artifacts at Indian Museum in Kolkata, saying it did not want to keep it pending for another three decades which may make the plea itself a historical object. "We are going to dispose it of finally and do not want to monitor the case. We do not want to keep it pending for next 30 years so that the case itself becomes an object for the museum," a bench headed by Justice T S Thakur said when the counsel for the Centre sought some more time for filing comprehensive reply to the plea.

The bench was hearing the plea filed by Subhas Datta, a Kolkata-based Chartered Accountant, seeking various reliefs including physical verification of museum's artifacts by an independent agency.

Datta has also sought deployment of CISF at the museum to guard the remnants of the past glory. The plea has sought relocation of government offices like Geological Survey of India, Zoological Survey of India, Botanical Survey of India and Anthropological Survey of India from the premises of the museum saying they took up space for displaying of more items.

During the hearing today, the bench asked the Ministry of Culture and Director of the Museum to file "reports/status reports" in the case within two weeks and reserved the verdict. Datta, who appears in person, argued that Buddha Bust has beem missing from December, 2004 and the matter was still pending investigation with CBI.

He also alleged that the verification of artifacts and counting of ancient coins, which started as early in 2005, has still not been concluded.

The Museum, however, has cited acute shortage of manpower as well as absence of scholars and experts as the reason for delay. The court had then asked the Culture Ministry to provide "resources, persons, scholars and experts and necessary funds" to the museum so that substantial progress can be made in the verification of artifacts and coins.In another case relating to a missing employee of the Kolkata Museum, the Centre had conceded before the court that there were no standard uniform procedures devised to regulate aspects of functioning of museums across India.

The affidavit in this case was filed in a pending habeas corpus petition (a plea filed to secure presence of missing persons) by a relative of whistleblower Sunil Kumar Upadhaya, a preservation officer of Indian Museum Kolkata, who is missing.

The Centre had, however, said that it has started reforms, including the digitization process, for having computerised database for it. The Ministry of Culture had said that they have formulated a 14-point museum reform guidelines and it has been circulated to all central museums under the ministry and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for implementation.