The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : State, ASI challenge grant of land on Bidar fort premises

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 26, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

State, ASI challenge grant of land on Bidar fort premises

Staff Reporter

Land Tribunal of Bidar has granted part of land within fort to some persons

No one can tamper with the protected monument: ASI
It urges the High Court to quash the grant

BANGALORE: You could be wrong if you believed that the country’s ancient heritage belonged to the people and that it is the bounden duty of the authorities to protect it.

This and several other issues relating to the history, culture and heritage of the country came up for discussion before the Karnataka High Court on Wednesday. The reason: the Land Tribunal of Bidar has granted a part of land within the famed medieval fort to some persons. Both the Government and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) have jointly challenged the grant of land.

The ASI, which is in charge of the maintenance and upkeep of the fort built by the Bahmani kings and subsequently the Barid Shahi dynasty who ruled over vast areas of north Karnataka including the districts of Bijapur, Gulbarga, Bidar, Raichur and Ahmednagar in Maharashtra and other areas, had filed the petition challenging the grant of land within the fort.

The ASI said the fort was a protected monument and even the land within the structure was protected under the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Declaration of National Importance) Act, 1957.

The ASI said that nobody or no authority could tamper with the monuments and protected lands that came within its purview. It said the land within the fort could not have been granted under any circumstances.

It said that even though the Assistant Commissioner had objected to the grant of land, members of the Land Tribunal had gone ahead with the grant.

It urged the court to quash the grant, saying that the fort is a heritage structure and that it must be protected at any cost.

Tombs

The ASI said that the land granted was part of the protected grounds containing the tombs of Ali Barid, Ibrahim Barid and Ameer Barid. The move could spell doom for the conservation efforts and also damage the monuments apart from leading to destruction of the magnificent Mohammadan monuments.

It said that the fort and the monuments within contained some of the best examples of Mohammadan architecture in the south and that pieces of history could not be partitioned as had been done by the panel.

The State agreed with the contentions of the ASI and said it was joining hands with the ASI in preferring an appeal against the land grant. It too said that the grant could damage the historic fort land and lead to more such claims. The court, however, wanted the Government to explain how it could challenge the action of one of its instrumentalities.

It said that the land grant panel was a part of the Government and sought to know if it could challenge the action of the panel.

The petitioners who had been granted the land said they were in possession of acquisition of land relating to 74 acres and 10 guntas of land.

The court adjourned further hearing on the petition.

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