[MSN] India. Five years on, museums await new inclusions. Purchases could not be made as most owners, who presented their collections, have not registered their accumulations under the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972.

[MSN]

Five years on, museums in state await new inclusions

Vadodara, February 18 It has been five years since the state directorate of museums made its last purchase. The latest meeting of the purchase committee to buy art works and antique items for the 14 museums of Gujarat was convened recently, but even at this meeting no decision was made regarding purchases.

According to museum authorities, purchases could not be made as most owners, who presented their collections of miniature paintings, watches and manuscripts at the meeting, had not registered their accumulations under the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972.

The registration is mandatory and government museums usually buy registered items.

The initial grant for purchases was a paltry Rs 1 lakh. “The purchase committee was given an initial allotment of Rs 1 lakh from the state government and the allotment could have been extended if the cost of arts and antiquities was more,” said SN Pandey, director of museums, headquartered at Baroda Museum.

According to him, the last such purchase (miniature paintings) for the museum collection was made five years ago. “There were some antiquities which were genuine. Although we could have spent on them, we resisted since the owners of the artifacts had not registered them,” he said.

The art purchase committee has ten members with a two-year tenure. The present committee was formed recently, and has two teachers from M S University’s fine arts faculty — Nandu Rathwakoli and Shailendra Kushwaha — as its members.

Commenting on the need for such a committee, Pandey said, “Committee members decide upon the historical importance and genuineness of any antiquity donated or purchased by museums from time to time.”

He also said that often advertisements are brought out through various mediums about the purchase committee so that an individual possessing any historically important item could sell it to them.

Pandey said the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act was implemented in 1972 for an effective control over moveable cultural property, consisting of antiquities and art treasures.

The Act regulates the export trade in antiquities and art treasures and provides for the prevention of smuggling and fraudulent dealings, to provide for the compulsory acquisition of antiquities and art treasures for preservation in public places. 

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