The ODISHA ANCIENT MONUMENTS PRESERVATION ACT, 1956

Orissa Act No. 12 of 1956
*THE ORISSA ANCIENT MONUMENTS
PRESERV ATION ACT, 1956
[Received the assent of the Governor on the 18th May 1956, first published in an
extraordinary issue of the Orissa Gazette, dated the 1 1th June, 1956.]
AN ACT FOR THE PRESERVATION OF ANCIENT MONUMENTS AND
OBJECTS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL, HISTORICAL OR ARTISTIC
INTEREST IN THE STATE OF ORISSA.
WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for the preservation of ancient
monuments for the exercise of control over excavation in certain places and for
the protection and acquisition in certain cases of ancient monuments and of
objects of archaeological, historical or artistic interest in the State of Orissa;
It is hereby enacted by the Legislature of the State of Orissa in the Seventh
Year of the Republic of India as follows :
1. Short title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called
the Orissa Ancient Monuments Preservation Act, 1956.
(2) It extends to the whole of the State of Orissa.
(3) It shall come into force at once.
**Statement of Object s and Reasons. - Archaeology was a Central
subject during the British period and ancient monuments are archaeological sites
used to be preserved by the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act of 1904. This
Act was only introduced in the British India but in the Orissa States it was not
operative. Only a few enlightened Rulers established Archaeological Departments
in their areas for taking steps for preserving and exploring the ancient and
archaeological sites and for the care and upkeep of the ancient monuments
according to the scientific principles In 1950 only 33 monuments were put in the
list of preserved Ancient Monument in Orissa by the Archaeological Department
of India and this clearly establishes that only a few monuments situated at well
known places of pilgrimage were included in the list by the Archaeological
* Published vide Orissa Gazette Extraordinary No. 135 dated 11.6.1956
** For Bill see Orissa Gazette No. 62 of 1956, dated 15.3.1956.
The Odisha   Gazette
EXTRAORDINARY
PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY
No. 135 Date : 11th June 1955
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Department of the Government of India. It is needless to add that not even one of
those ancient parts of Orissa where people of Kalmga spread the Indian civilisation
to Indonesia has been discovered in the Orissa coast. In the costal area the
location of ancient monuments and archaeological sites such as Tosali of Asokan
period, Kaliegangara of Kharavela, period of Dantapura of the Buddhist Traditions
is not fully known. Such is the condition in the old Districts of Orissa. Only a few
archaeological sites and ancient monuments of the ex-State area are known and
out of them very few are declared by the Government of India as protected
monuments of national importance.
According to Item 67 of the List I of the 7th Schedule to the Constitution of
India the Ancient Monument which will be declared by the Parliament by law to
be of national importance, will be protected by the Union Government.
According to the Item 12 of the List 1 1 of Schedule to the Indian
Constitution, all other ancient monuments and archaeological sites not declared
by the Parliament by law to be of national importance, are to be protected by the
State Government. In the absence of any law defining the measures for the
preservation of the ancient monument s and archaeological sites, the S tate
Government are not in a position to take any step by law to declare an ancient
monument or archaeological site as protected.
This Bill which seeks to provide the necessary legislative measures in
this connection has the following main objects, viz :
(1) Ensuring the proper upkeep and repair of the ancient buildings; in
State or private ownership;
(2) Prevention of destruction of sites of historic interest by ignorant and
unauthorised persons and regular systematic excavation of excerpts; and
(3) Securing control over traffic in sculptures, carvings of the objects
2. Definitions. - In this Act unless there is anything repugnant in the
subject or context-
(a) "ancient monuments" excludes any ancient and historical monuments
declared as such by the Act of the Parliament for the time being in force, and
means any structure, erection or monument or any tumulus or place of internment,
or any cave, rock sculpture, rock painting, sculpture of stone, metal or terracotta,
inscription or monolith, which is of historical, archaeological or artistic interest
and includes-
(i) the site of an ancient monument ;
(ii) 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
(iii) the means of access to and convenient inspection of an ancient
monument;
(b) "Commissioner" means any officer authorised by the State Government
to perform the duties of a Commissioner under this Act;
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(c) "maintain" and maintenance" include the fencing, covering, repairing,
restoring and cleansing of a protected monument, and the doing of any act which
may be necessary for the purpose of maintaining a protected monument or, of
securing convenient access thereto ;
(d) "Owner" includes a joint owner invested with powers of management
on behalf of himself and other joint owners, and any manager or trustee exercising
powers of management over an ancient monument, and the successor in title of
any such owner and the successor in office of any such manager or trustee:
Provided that nothing in this Act shall be deemed to extend the powers
which may lawfully be exercised by such manager or trustee.
3. Protected monuments. - (1) The State Government may, by notification,
declare an ancient monument to be protected monument within the meaning of
this Act.
(2) A copy of every notification published under Sub-section (1) shall be
fixed up in a conspicuous place on or near the monument, together with an
intimation that any objections to the issue of the notification received by the
State Government within one month from the date when it is so fixed up will be
taken into consideration.
(3) On the expiry of the said period of one month the State Government
after considering the objections, if any, shall confirm or withdraw the notification.
(4) A notification published under this section shall, unless and until it is
withdrawn, be conclusive evidence of the fact that the monument to which it
relates, is an ancient monument within the meaning of this Act.
4. Acquisition of right in or guardianship of an ancient monument.
- (1) The Collector may, with the sanction of the State Government, purchase or
take a lease of any protected monument.
(2) The Collector with the like sanction, may accept a gift or bequest of
any protected monument.
(3) The owner of any protected monument may, by written instrument,
constitute the Commissioner the guardian of the monument and the Commissioner
may, with the sanction of the State Government, accept such guardianship.
(4) When the Commissioner has accepted the guardianship of a monument
under Sub-section (3) the owner shall, except as expressly provided in this Act,
have the same estate, right, title and interest in and to the monument as if the
Commissioner had not been constituted guardian thereof.
(5) When the Commissioner has accepted the guardianship of a monument
under Sub-section (3) the provisions of the Act relating to agreements executed
under Section 5 shall apply to the written instrument executed under the said
sub-section
(6) Where a protected monument is without an owner, the Commissioner
may assume the guardianship of the monument.
5. Preservation of monument by agreement. - (1) The Collector may,
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with the previous sanction of the State Government, propose to the owner to
enter into an agreement with the State Government for the preservation of any
protected monument in his jurisdiction.
(2) An agreement under this section may provide for the following matters,
or for such of them as it may be found expedient to include in the agreement :
(a) the maintenance of the monument;
(b) the custody of the monument, and the duties of any person, who
may be employed to watch it;
(c) the restriction of the owner's right to destroy, remove, alter or deface
the monument or to build on or near the site of the monument;
(d) the facilities of access to be permitted to the public or to any portion
of the public and to persons deputed by the owner or the Collector
to inspect or maintain the monument;
(e) the notice to be given to the State Government through the Collector,
in case the land on which the monument is situated is offered for
sale by the owner, and the right to be reserved to State Government
to purchase such land, or any specified portion of such land, at its
market-value;
(f) the payment of any expenses incurred by the owner or by the State
Government in connection with the preservation of the monument;
(g) the propriet ary or other right s which are to vest in the S tate
Government in respect of the monument when any expenses are
incurred by the State Government in connection with the preservation
of the monument;
(h) the appointment of an authority to decide any dispute arising out of
the agreement; and
(i) any matter connected with the preservation of the monument which
is a proper subject of agreement between the owner and the State
Government.
(3) The terms of an agreement under this section may be altered from
time to time with the sanction of the State Government and with the consent of
the owner.
(4) With the previous sanction of the State Government, the Collector may
terminate an agreement under this section on giving six months' notice in writing
to the owner.
(5) The owner may terminate an agreement under this section on giving
six months' notice to the State Government through the Collector.
(6) An agreement under this section shall be binding on any person claiming
to be the owner of the monument to which it relates, through or under a party by
whom or on whose behalf the agreement was executed.
(7) Any rights acquired by the State Government in respect of expenses
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incurred in protecting or preserving a monument shall not be affected by the
termination of an agreement under this section.
6. Owner under disability or not in possession. - (1) If the owner is
unable, by reason of insanity or other disability, to act for himself, the person
legally competent to act on his behalf may exercise the powers conferred upon
an owner by Section 5.
(2) In the case of village property , the headman or other village of ficer
exercising powers of management over such property may exercise the powers
conferred upon an owner by Section 5.
(3) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to empower any person not
being of the same religion as the persons on whose behalf he is acting to make
or execute an agreement relating to a protected monument which or any part of
which is periodically used for the religious worship or observances of that religion.
7. Enforcement of agreement. - (1) If the Collector apprehends that the
owner or occupier of a monument intends to destroy, remove, alter, deface or
imperil the monument or to build on or near the site thereof in contravention of the
terms of an agreement for its preservation under Section 5, the Collector may
make an order prohibiting any such contravention of the agreement.
(2) If any owner or other person who is bound by an agreement for the
preservation or maintenance of a monument under Section 5 refuses to do any
act which is, in the opinion of the Collector, necessary to such preservation or
maintenance or neglects to do any such act within such reasonable time as may
be fixed by the Collector , the, Collector may authorise any person to do any
such act, and the expense of doing any such act or such portion of the expense
as the owner may be liable to pay under the agreement, may be recovered from
the owner as if it were an arrear of land revenue.
(3) A person aggrieved by an order made under this section may appeal to
the Commissioner, who may cancel or modify it and whose decision shall be
final.
8. Purchasers at certain sales and persons claiming through owner
bound by instrument executed by owner. - Every person who purchases at a
sale for arrears of land revenue or any other, public demand, or at a revenue sale
made under any land in which is situated a monument, in respect of which any
instrument has been executed by the owner for the time being, under Section 4
or Section 5, and every person claiming any title to a monument from, through or
under an owner who executed any such instrument, shall be bound by such
instrument.
9. Application of endowment to repair of an ancient monument. -
(1) If any owner or other person competent to enter into an agreement under
Section 5 for the preservation of a protected monument refuses or fails to enter
into such an agreement when proposed to him by the Collector , and if any
endowment has been created for the purpose of keeping such monument in
repair or for that purpose among others, the Collector may institute a suit in the
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Court of the District Judge or if the estimated cost of repairing the monument
does not exceed one thousand rupees, may make an application to the District
Judge for the proper application of such endowment or part thereof.
(2) On the hearing of an application under Sub-section (1), the District
Judge may summon and examine the owner and any person whose evidence
appears to him necessary, and may pass an order for the proper application for
the endowment or of any part thereof, and any such order may be executed as if
it were the decree of a Civil Court.
10. Compulsory purchase of ancient monument. - (1) If the S tate
Government apprehend that a protected monument is in danger of being
destroyed, injured or allowed to fall into decay, they may acquire it under the
provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (I) of 1894) as if the preservation of a
protected monument were a 'public purpose' within the meaning of that Act.
(2) The powers of compulsory purchase conferred by Sub-section (1) shall
not be exercised in the case of -
(a) any monument which or any part of which is periodically used for
religious observances; or
(b) any monument which is the subject of a subsisting agreement
executed under Section 5.
(3) In any case other than the cases referred to in Sub-section (2) the said
powers of compulsory purchase shall not be exercised unless the owner or other
person competent to enter into an agreement under Section 5 has failed, within
such reasonable period as the Collector may fix in this behalf, to enter into an
agreement proposed to him under the said section or has terminated or given
notice of his intention to terminate such agreement.
11. Maintenance of cert ain protected monument. -  (1) The
Commissioner shall maintain every monument in respect of which the Government
have acquired any of the rights mentioned in Section 4 or which the Government
have acquired under Section 10.
(2) When the Commissioner has accepted the guardianship of a monument
under Section 4, he shall, for the purpose of maintaining such monument, have
access to the monument at all reasonable times, by himself and by his agents,
subordinates and workmen for the purpose of inspecting the monument and for
the purpose of bringing such materials and doing such acts as he may consider
necessary or desirable for the maintenance thereof.
12. Voluntary contributions. - The Commissioner may receive voluntary
contributions towards the cost of maintaining a protected monument and may
give orders as to the management and application of any funds so received by
him
Provided that no contribution received under this section shall be applied
to any purpose other than the purpose for which it was contributed.
13. Protection of place of worship from misuse, pollution or
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desecration. - Where the Collector has, under Section 4, purchased or taken a
lease of any protected monument, or has accepted a gift or bequest, or the
Commissioner has, under the same section, accepted the guardianship thereof,
and such monument or any part thereof, is periodically used for religious worship
or observances by any community, the Collector shall make due provision of
such monument, or such part thereof; from pollution of desecration-
(a) by prohibiting the entry therein, except in accordance with conditions
prescribed with the concurrence of the persons in religious charge of the said
monument or part thereof, of any person not entitled so to enter by the religious
usages of the community by which the monument or part thereof is used; or
(b) by taking such other action as he may think necessary in this behalf.
14. Relinquishment of Government rights in a monument. - With the
sanction of the State Government the Commissioner may-
(a) where rights have been acquired by the State Government in respect of
any monument under this Act by virtue of any sale, lease, gift or will, relinquish
the rights so acquired to the person who would, for the time being, be the owner
of the monument if such rights had not been acquired; or
(b) relinquish any guardianship of a monument which he has accepted
under this Act.
15. Right or access to certain protected monuments. - (1) Subject to
such rules as may, after previous publication, be made by the State Government,
the public shall have a right of access to any monument maintained by the State
Government under this Act.
(2) In making any rule under Sub-section (1) the State Government may
provide that a breach of it shall be punishable with fine which may extend to
twenty rupees.
16. Penalties. - Any person other than the owner who destroys, removes,
injures, alters, defaces or imperils a protected monument and any owner who
destroys, removes, injures, alters, defaces or imperils a monument maintained
by the State Government under this Act or in respect of which an agreement has
been executed under Section 5, and any owner or occupier who contravenes an
order made under Section 7, Sub-section (1), shall be punishable with
1[imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years,
or with fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees or with both].
17. Power of State Government to control moving of sculptures. -
(1) If the State Government consider that any sculptures, carving, images, base-
reliefs, inscriptions or other like objects ought not to be moved from the place
where they are without the sanction of the State Government, the State Government
may, by notification, direct that any such object or any class of such object s
shall not be moved except with the written permission of the Collector.
1. Substituted vide Orissa Act 16 OF  2002
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(2) A person applying for the permission mentioned in Sub-section (1)
shall specify the object or objects which he proposes to move and shall furnish in
regard to such object or objects any information which the Collector may require.
(3) If the Collector refuses to grant such permission, the applicant may
appeal such authority as the S tate Government may by order specify in this
behalf and the decision of such authority shall be final.
(4) Any person who moves any object in contravention of a notification
issued under Sub-section (1), shall be punishable with fine which may extend to
1[ten thousand rupees],
(5) If the owner of any property proves to the satisfaction of the S tate
Government that he has suffered any loss or damage by reason of the inclusion
of such property in it notification published under Sub-section (1) the S tate
Government shall either-
(a) exempt such property from the said notification;
(b) purchase such property, if it be movable at its market value or;
(c) pay compensation for any loss or damage sustained by owner of
such property, if it be immovable.
18. Purchase of sculptures, carvings or like objects by the State
Government. - (1) If the State Government apprehend that any object mentioned
in a notification issued under Sub-section (1) of Section 17, is in danger of being
destroyed, removed, injured or allowed to fall into decay, the State Government
may pass orders for the compulsory purchase of such objects at its market
value, and the Collector shall, thereupon, give notice to the owner of the object to
be purchased.
(2) The power of compulsory purchase given by this section shall not
extend to-
(a) any image or symbol actually used for the purpose of any religious
observance; or
(b) anything which the owner desires to retain on any reasonable ground
personal to himself or to any of his ancestors or to any member of
his family.
19. Power of State Government to notify areas as protected. - (1) If
the State Government are of opinion that excavation for archaeological purposes
in any area should be restricted and regulated in the interests of archaeological
research, the State Government may, by notification specifying the boundaries
of the area, declare it to be a protected area.
(2) From the date of such notification all objects of archaeological, historical
or artistic interest buried in the protected area shall be the property of the
Government and shall be deemed to be in the possession of the Government and
shall remain the property and in the possession of the Government until ownership
1. Substituted vide Orissa Act 16 OF  2002
9
thereof is transferred; but in all other respects, the right of any owner or occupier
of land in such areas shall not be affected.
20. Power to enter upon and make excavations in a protected area.
- (1) Any officer of the Archaeological Department or any person holding a licence
under Section 21 may, with the written permission of the Collector, enter upon
and make excavation in any protected area.
(2) Where in the exercise of the power conferred by Sub-section (1) the
rights of any person are infringed by the occupation or disturbance of the surface
of any land, the State Government shall pay to that person compensation for the
infringement.
21. Power of State Government to make rules regulating
archaeological excavation in protected areas. - (1) The State Government
may make rules-
(a) prescribing the authorities by whom licences to excavate for
archaeological purposes in a protected area may be granted;
(b) regulating the conditions on which such licences may be granted,
the form of such licences and the taking of security from licensees;
(c) generally to carry out the purposes of Section 19.
(2) The power to make rules given by this section is subject to the condition
of the rules being made after previous publication.
(3) Such rules may be general for all protected areas for the time being, or
may be special or any particular protected area or areas.
(4) Such rules may provide that any person committing a breach of any
rule or of any condition of a licence shall be punishable with fine which may
extend to five thousand rupees and may further provide that where the breach
has been by the agent or servant of a licensee, the licensee himself shall be
punishable.
22. Power to acquire protected area. - If the State Government are of
opinion that a protected area contains an ancient monument or such other objects
of archaeological, historical or artistic interest and also of national interest and
value, they may acquire such area, or any part thereof under the provisions of the
Land Acquisition Act, 1 of 1894, as for public purpose.
23. Assessment of market value or compensation. - The market value
of any property which Government are empowered to purchase at such value
under this Act or the compensation to be p aid by Government in respect of
anything done under this Act, shall, where any dispute arises in respect of such
market value or compensation, be ascertained in the manner provided in the
Land Acquisition Act, 1 of 1894 :
Provided that when making an enquiry under the said Land Acquisition
Act, 1 of 1894, the Collector shall be assisted by two assessors, one of whom
shall be a competent person nominated by the Collector and one person nominated
by the owner or in case the owner fails to nominate an assessor within such
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reasonable time as may be fixed by the Collector in this-behalf, by the Collector.
24. Jurisdiction. - A Magistrate of the third class shall not have jurisdiction
to try any person charged with an offence against this Act.
25. Power to make rules. - (1) The State Government may make rules
for carrying out any of the purposes of this Act.
(2) The power to make rules given by this section is subject to the condition
of the rules being made after previous publication.
26. Protection to public servants acting under the Act. - No suit for
compensation and no criminal proceeding shall lie against any public servant in
respect of any act done, or in good faith intended to be done, in the exercise of
any power conferred by this Act.

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