Indian legal regime tough on historical imports

By Kajol Singh

Apart From Customs Duty, Private Collector Has To Get Import Licence For Retrieving National Heritage

The outrage in Parliament over the upcoming auction in New York of Mahatma Gandhi’s spectacles and other personal belongings is ironic. For, the same Parliament that’s indignant now about the Mahatma’s belongings being auctioned off, showed remarkable apathy while allowing an absurd piece of law that has made bringing back anything of “historical interest’’ to the country frustratingly difficult.

According to the rules, if a private collector from India buys any such piece of “historical interest”, the legal regime, far from waiving customs duty for retrieving national heritage, inflicts on him the hassles of obtaining an import licence. Vijay Mallya faced similar hassles when he sought to bring back Tipu Sultan’s sword. So, when the government-appointed expert committee meets this week to discuss the auction of Gandhi’s belongings, it can’t just limit itself to the issue of Gandhi’s scattered heritage. It would do well to find a long-term solution to the recurring problem of import into India of pieces of historical interest or antique value.

There is little awareness of the needless curbs on the import of historical pieces because the thrust of the statutory law, Antiquities and Art Treasures Act 1972, is to prohibit their export in a bid to end the ageold loot of Indian heritage. The executive slipped while framing the rules and introduced the same curbs on imports of historical or antique items. And our MPs nodded their assent to the subordinate legislation when it came up for Parliament’s ratification. Mridula Mukherjee, a member of the committee and director of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, was surprised at this vestige of the licence raj that puts curbs on not just the export but also the import of historical legacy.

“It makes no sense to make it difficult for private collectors to import items of historical value to the nation,” she said, adding, “The committee should examine this anomaly and recommend incentives to those who collect and preserve our heritage.”

Bapu had gifted his glasses to late Nawab Mahabat
Mahatma Gandhi had gifted his round, metal-rimmed glasses, which would come under the hammer along with his other personal belongings at an auction in New York next month, to a British army colonel in the 1930s. Now, a closer look at the auction house Antiquorum Auctioneer’s website reveals that the colonel was none other than the late Junagarh Nawab Mahabat Khan, who had fled to Pakistan after partition. The British used to call him Colonel His Highness Sri Diwan Nawab Sir Muhammad Mahabat Khanji III Rasul Khanji. The auction has provoked outrage across India with Mahatma’s great grandson Tushar Gandhi describing it as “grave insult’’. The auction house recently received a letter of provenance from his great grandson Talat Sahid Khan Babi along with the glasses for auction.