Arunachal Pradesh Ancient Monuments, Archaeological Sites and Remains Preservation Act, 1987
No: 4 Dated: Jan, 01 1990
THE ARUNACHAL PRADESH ANCIENT MONUMENTS, ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES AND REMAINS PRESERVATION ACT, 1987
(Act. No. 4 of 1990)
An Act to provide for preservation of certain ancient and historical monuments and archaeological sites and remains and for the regulation of excavation archaeological sites in Arunachal Pradesh, other than of those declared by Parliament by law to be of national importance.
Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of Arunachal Pradesh in the Thirty-eight Year of the Republic of India as follows:
CHAPTER I
Preliminary
1. Short title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the Arunachal Pradesh Ancient Monuments, Archaeological Sites and Remains Preservation Act, 1987.
(2) It shall extend to the whole of Arunachal Pradesh.
(3) It shall come into force at once.
(4) Nothing in this Act shall apply to protected monuments or protected areas as defined in Clauses (i) and (j) respectively of Section 2 of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 and as declared under Section 3 of the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act, 1904.
2. Definitions. - In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-
(a) "ancient monument" means any structure, erection or monument or any tumulus or place of internment 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 assess to and convenient inspection of, an ancient monument;
(b) "antiquity" includes-
(i) any coin, sculpture, manuscript, epigraph or other works of art or craftsmanship,
(ii) any article, object or thin detached from a building or cave,
(iii) any article, object and thing illustrative of science, art, craft, 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 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) "Archaeological Officer" means an officer of the Historical/Archaeological Section of the Department of Research, Government of Arunachal Pradesh and includes any officer authorised by the Government to perform the duties of the Archaeological Officer under this Act;
(d) "archaeological site and remains" means any area which contains or is reasonably believed to contain ruins and relies 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, covering in, or otherwise preserving it, and
(ii) the means of access to and convenient inspection of, the area;
(e) "Government" means the Government of Arunachal Pradesh;
(f) "maintain" with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, includes the fencing, covering in, repairing, restoring and cleaning of a protected monument and the doing of any act which may be necessary for the purpose of a protected monument or of securing convenient access thereto;
(g) "owner" includes-
(i) a joint owner invested with power of management on behalf of himself and other 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 so by the Government under Section 3 of this Act;
(j) "protected monument" means an ancient monument which is declared to be a protected monument under Section 5 of this Act.
CHAPTER II
Protected Monuments and Protected Areas
3. Power to declare protected monuments or protected areas. - (1) The Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, declare any ancient monument to be protected monument or any archaeological sites and remains to be protected areas for the purpose of this Act and a copy of every such notification shall be affixed in conspicuous place of such monument or archaeological site and remains as the case may be.
(2) Any person interested in such monument or archaeological sites and remains may, within sixty days from the date of issue of the notification, submit objections, if any, to such declaration to the Government.
(3) On the expiry of the small period of sixty days, the Government may, after considering the objections, if any, shall confirm or modify or withdraw the notification.
(4) A notification issued under this section shall, unless and until it is withdrawn, be conclusive evidence of the fact that the monument or the archaeological site and remains to which it relates is a protected monument or a protected area, as the case may be.