20.03 2013, New Delhi,
Efforts to restore a seventh century Jain temple situated at Kundalpur hills in Madhya Pradesh have been stalled by the Supreme Court on an assertion by the Archaeological Survey of India that the structure was an ancient monument. Relying on a 1913 notification, ASI claimed to own the property and demanded immediate stoppage of all construction and restoration work carried out in and around the structure by a private trust. But the need for apex court’s intervention arose after this demand of ASI was rejected by the Madhya Pradesh High Court on September 17 last year. For the present, the apex bench of Justices S. S. Nijjar and P. C. Ghose has ordered status quo and directed the MP government and the private trust Sri Digambar Jain Atishay Kshetra Kundalpur Public Trust, to file their response.
Kundalgiri Jain Temples
The concern of the ASI was two-fold. Gazette notifications of July 16, 1913 and November 30, 1914 declared the temple a protected monument vesting supervision and control powers with the Central government. The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act 1958 retained the existing list of protected monuments without any change. As a result, the Digambar Jain temple or the Bade Baba Jain Temple continued to be an ancient monument of national importance. But the High Court order set this position at naught by recognizing the state’s legal control over the temple under the Madhya Pradesh Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act 1964. ASI has argued that this position was contrary to the Constitutional scheme that does not permit a state law to operate in a field already occupied by a Central law. The second concern of ASI had more to do with the damage to the structure and the surrounding environmental as part of the construction and restoration undertaken by the private trust. By an order of April 5, 1999 the state government allowed the private trust to manage and operate the affairs of the temple. Work started on constructed of new structures close to the old temple building and in 2006 the deity was shifted out from the old temple complex. An ASI team on inspection reported gross violations.
Under the ASI Rules, construction is barred within 300 metres of the protected structure. The ASI wrote to the state government to take immediate steps to remove heavy machinery and take action against the trust for felling trees, digging hills, and making alterations in the walls and sculptures inside the temple. As no action was forthcoming, the ASI approached the High Court accusing the state government of turning a blind eye to the ruin of a protected monument.