CHENNAI: At a time when the state is grappling with missing temple idols, and the judiciary and the government are in a tussle over tracing
missing artefacts, the state archaeology department has lost antiquity certificates of hundreds of precious idols.
An antiquity certificate contains details such as photograph of the art piece, its size and current location. Such information would help prevent the artefact from being smuggled out and helps in tracing the missing ones.
The state archaeology department, which was the registering authority for idols for four decades, has no details of 13,700 antiquity certificates.
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) sources told TOI that some temples too, facing heat from authorities over missing idols, have approached the ASI seeking a copy of the certificate mandated under the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act of 1972.
The Centre in 2013 withdrew the powers delegated to state governments in 1974 to register artefacts. “In those 40 years, the state archaeology department has registered about 38,000 artefacts, including idols from HR&CE temples. When the archaeology department handed over its records to us in 2013, they informed us that approximately 13,700 antiquity certificates were missing,” an ASI official said. This has remained a secret with the department. Another official too confirmed that he had come across cases of “missing” certificates.
As per rules, copies of the certificates should be maintained by the temples, registering officer (state archaeology department) and the director general of ASI in New Delhi.
Thankfully, the ASI has digitised all the certificates to keep them safe.
As per the Antiquities and Art Treasures rules of 1973, the state archaeology department was given the powers to register arefacts. Since1974, the
Tamil Nadu archaeology department had registered and certified 42,358 antique pieces, of which 38,000 were temple arefacts.
Recently, three temples have written to ASI requesting to register their idols, with one seeking the copy of the antiquity certificate. “Authorities of a temple at
Swamimalai in Thanjavur wrote to the ASI seeking to register the idol. But our records have found that the idol has already been registered,” an official said.
When contacted, a state government official said the archaeology department officials have been directed to look into the issue. “The files were transferred from the state department of archaeology to ASI in 2014. Officials involved in the handing over of the files would be contacted to check the facts,” an official added.
ASI has digitised all the certificates to keep them safe
