Judgment :

G.S. Singhvi, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. With the hope of their immortalization, several Emperors, Kings and other rich people got built temples, churches, mosques and other buildings in different parts of the world including India. Many of these structures are not only marvels of architecture, but also represent the culture and heritage of the particular place and period. With the passage of time, these structures acquired the status of historical monuments, the preservation and protection of which has become a herculean task for successive generations.

Legislations in other countries

3. The issue of preservation and protection of ancient and historical monuments has been a matter of concern for the Governments and private individuals alike. In his work titled Preserving Archaeological Sites and Monuments, Henry Cleere, World Heritage Coordinator, International Council on Monuments and Sites, Paris and Visiting Professor, Institute of Archaeology UCL, London has mentioned that the first law on the subject was enacted in Sweden in 1666 and professional agencies were set up to implement the same. Several other countries enacted similar legislative instruments in 17th and 18th centuries. The United Kingdom enacted first Ancient Monuments Protection Act in 1882. France did so in 1913. The earliest Japanese legislation, the Law for the Preservation of Ancient Temples and Shrines, was enacted in 1897 and the United States waited until 1906 before its Federal Antiquities Act came into force. Their pre-hispanic civilizations were highly symbolic for the cultural identities of the countries that emerged after the independence struggles in Latin America during the first half of the nineteenth century, just as its Hellenic past grandeur was the material expression of Greek national identity. It is therefore not surprising that preservation of the remains of these cultures was given a high priority by the new nations. In 1821, Mexico passed the first law to preserve and protect the country's archaeological heritage. In the same year Peru shook itself free from Spanish rule and in 1822 a Supreme Decree was published, forbidding any trade in ancient relics.

4. By the outbreak of World War I in 1914 almost every European country (with the notable exception of Belgium) and most of the major countries around the world had some form of antiquities protection and preservation legislation. Legislation had also been introduced by European colonial powers in many of their overseas territories; in some cases, such as France, the metropolitan statutes were enforced in their colonies.

5. The Treaty of Versailles saw more new nations being created in Europe, and here once again preservation legislation was introduced soon after their constitutions had been approved, usually based on the systems of the major countries such as Austria-Hungary from which they had been formed.

6. The inter-war period saw legislative protection being progressively amended and expanded in many parts of the world. New antiquities laws were enacted in Denmark, Greece, and the United Kingdom in the 1930s. Two major statutes, covering the protection of the cultural and natural heritage respectively, were promulgated in Italy by the Fascist regime just before the outbreak of World War II; interestingly, both are still force in 2001.

7. The 1897 Japanese law was extended to all "national treasures" in 1929. The current legislation relating to the cultural heritage in Peru stems from a basic law passed in 1929, and a 1927 law covers the cultural heritage of Bolivia.

8. The creation of the USSR and the introduction of a socialist constitution led to state ownership of all cultural property being declared in a fundamental law of October 1918. (Unlike the laws of countries emerging from colonial domination, this was motivated for ideological reasons rather than in the interests of cultural identity.) The antiquities legislation of all the countries of the post-World War II