*Present pace to take 50 yrs to complete preservation
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, May 29: Taking serious note of dilly-dallying approach towards restoration of historic Mubarak Mandi complex, Division Bench of State High Court comprising Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey and Justice B S Walia has issued notices to the Union Tourism and Culture Ministry, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and State Government with the direction to clear their stance within a period of two weeks.
The direction has been passed in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by social activist Thakur Chatter Singh, a resident of Sainik Colony through Advocate Pawan Dev Singh.
After hearing the counsel for the petitioner, the Division Bench issued notices, which were accepted by Assistant Solicitor General of India (ASGI) Sindhu Sharma for the Union Culture Ministry and Archaeological Survey of India and Deputy Advocate General, Aseem Sawhney for the State Government.
Earlier, the counsel for the petitioner submitted before the Division Bench that though Jammu has a rich cultural and built heritage in the form of temples, forts and palaces etc, the Mubarak Mandi complex is being regarded as the crown of Jammu city. “This complex is one of the most important built heritage of the Jammu and Kashmir which occupies an important place not only as relict feature of the landscape of Jammu but also symbol of unique feature of the heritage”, he added.
He informed the Division Bench that some of the buildings are master pieces of architecture with the rooms meant for royal residence adorned with Dogra Chitrakala, decorative wooden ceilings and delicate and painted glasswork on the walls.
It was further submitted before the Division Bench that the Mubarak Mandi complex was declared as prestigious historical monument by virtue of a notification issued by the General Administration Department of State Government vide SRO-126 in exercise of the power conferred by Sub-Section 1 of Section 3 of J&K Ancient Monument Preservation Act, 1977, so as to protect the monuments within the meaning of the Act by taking into consideration the history of the Dogra Palaces.
Under the provisions of the Act, it was incumbent upon the State in terms of Section 4 and 5 of the Act to preserve the prestigious monuments and vide Government Order dated April 27, 2008 Department of Tourism and Culture was notified as administrative department for Mubarak Mandi Heritage Society, which was created in 2006 with the aim and object to initiate necessary measures for the preservation of Mubarak Mandi complex and to restore its original grandeur.
“However, the restoration of complex, which is a symbol of history, remains a dream till date”, the counsel for the petitioner said, adding “as per the Detailed Project Reports prepared for all the 25 buildings of the Mubarak Mandi complex, the Archaeological Survey of India was entrusted the task of restoration, preservation and conservation of erstwhile Army Headquarters and Foreign Office on August 2, 2006 and Darbar Hall in the year 2009 but till date neither the work has been completed nor the buildings have been put to use”.
“If the work is allowed to continue at present pace, the restoration of entire complex would take more than 50 years and till that time most of the buildings will not exist or it would be difficult to restore their originality as such there is a need to engage the expert agencies in their respective fields to complete the restoration works of the prestigious heritage complex of erstwhile Dogra rulers, which will connect the history with present generation and generations to come”, he further submitted before the Division Bench.
Pointing towards the DPRs prepared by INTACH, he said that Government of India had sanctioned Rs 85.24 crore for restoration/conservation of Mubarak Mandi complex. However, Mubarak Mandi Heritage Society could hardly spend Rs 12.34 crore since 2006 and remaining funds could not be got released from Government of India due to varied reasons.
“Now, the 13th Finance Commission award is over and no projection has been made under 14th Finance Commission by the State Government and the whole project is at stake and Government as well as Mubarak Mandi Heritage Society has to start fresh exercise as the project cost has also been increased”, the petitioner’s counsel said, adding the short term and long term measures were required to be taken for the protection of damaged heritage complex, regular maintenance and watch and ward etc by the society but nothing has been done till date.
He further informed the Division Bench that items of Dogra Art Museum including the Tosha Khana items, which are lying in sealed store since 1947 are required to be displayed in the museum for the general public.
“The value of Tosha Khana items is diminishing day by day so is the case of other precious antiques which are stored in Almirahs as such there is urgent need to expand the Dogra Art Museum. However, the pace of work shows that ASI will take years together to expand the museum”, the counsel for the petitioner added.
With these submissions, he prayed before the Division Bench for issuance of directions to the respondents to release sufficient funds for restoration of natural beauty and grandeur in a time bound manner. He further prayed for issuance of directions to the respondents for submission of monthly report to the High Court about progress on restoration and also fix the responsibility for lapse of funds sanctioned under 13th Finance Commission.
The petitioner has also sought directives from the Division Bench for preservation of 6 lakh documents containing history of the State and protection of museum, Tosha Khana, archives and library by involving the experts of the field etc.
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