The Madras High Court on Wednesday wanted to know from the State government as well as the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) the amount of funds that would be required for the proper upkeep and maintenance of Mamallapuram and its surroundings.
Justices Vineet Kothari and R. Suresh Kumar directed the Municipal Administration Secretary, Finance Secretary, Tourism Secretary and the Director General of ASI to convene a meeting within three weeks to fix the quantum of money required for better maintenance and submit a report in the court by February 25.
The judges said that they would, thereafter, issue appropriate directions for release of funds from various sources.
The interim order was passed on a suo motu public interest litigation petition taken up on the basis of a letter written by Justice N. Kirubakaran to Justice Kothari who was the Acting Chief Justice last year. Then, the Bench had also directed ASI to state whether it would be able to share a part of the revenue earned by it through sale of entry tickets, with the Mamallapuram Town Panchayat for improving civic amenities.
In reply, Assistant Solicitor General G. Karthikeyan filed a memo on behalf of the ASI on Wednesday.
The memo stated that ASI had collected ₹5.98 crore in 2016-17, ₹6.65 crore in 2017-18, ₹8.14 crore in 2018-19 and ₹ 6.87 crore till December 2019 through entry fee to the archaeological site from domestic as well as foreign visitors.
The entire collection was deposited into the consolidated funds of the Centre and not used by ASI as such, the ASG told the court and expressed inability in sharing the revenue with the local civic body.
Published - January 23, 2020 01:17 am IST
