 bill  no 91 of  2018 the historical heritage conservation bill, 2018 byshri dhananjay b mahadik, mp a billto provide for setting up of a mechanism to maintain, preserve and protect the identified and unidentified ancient, historical or archaeological sites, remains, monuments, modules and carvings in the country and for matters connected therewithbe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-ninth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the historical heritage conservation act, 2018(2) it extends to whole of indiashort title, extent and commencement5(3) it shall come into force with immediate effectdefinitions2 (1) in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "appropriate government" means in the case of a state, the government ofthat state and in all other cases, the central government;5(b) "historical or archaeological site" means areas where ruins or remains of historical or archaeological importance are available or believed to be available for more than hundred years including such geographical sites which have importance in indian civilization or in any period of the history of national freedom movement and also includes—(i) such portion of land adjoining the site of an ancient monument as may be required for fencing or covering in or otherwise preserving such site; and(ii) the means of access to, and convenient inspection of, historical or archaeological sites10(c) "archaeological remains" includes the following which have been in existence for not less than one hundred years—(i) any coin, module, handwritten document, relics or other artifacts or works of artisan;(ii) any material or article which is associated with a construction or cave;15(iii) any material or article which is a witness of science, art, craftsmanship,literature, religion, tradition, moral ethics or politics of previous eras;(iv) any material or article of historical importance; and (v) any material or article whose archaeological importance fulfills the purposes of this act and so declared through a notification in the official gazette20(d) "historical monuments" means any structure, memorial, stupa, graveyard, cave, stone modules, embossed write up or monoliths of historical, archaeological or artistic interest which have been in existence for not less than one hundred years including such building, fort, memorials which have importance in indian civilization or in any period of the history of national freedom movement and also includes—25(i) remains of an ancient monument; (ii) site of an ancient monument;(iii) such portion of land adjoining the site of an ancient monument as may be required for fencing or covering in or otherwise preserving such monument; and30(iv) the means of access to, and convenient inspection of, an ancient monument (e) "historical heritage" includes historical or archaeological site and remains, antiquities and historical monument of significant historical importance relating to indian culture, civilization or national freedom movement;35(f) "non-governmental organisation" means an organisation, institution, educational centre or research institution engaged in the field of preservation, protection and maintenance of historical heritage for a period of not less than three years with a good track record of its activities; and(g) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act40 24 of 1958(2) the words and expressions used in this act but not defined herein and defined in the ancient monuments and archaeological sites and remains act, 1958 shall have the same meaning as assigned to them in that act3 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, set up a mechanism to maintain, preserve and protect historical heritage in all the states of the country(2) the mechanism set up under sub-section (1) shall incorporate,—setting up of a mechanism to maintain, preserve and protect historical heritages5(a) entrusting the responsibility of maintaining, preserving and protectinghistorical heritage which have been declared as a symbol of national importance or otherwise in any state of the country to an established non-governmental organisation;(b) criteria for the selection of non-governmental organisations for entrustingthe work of preservation of historical heritage;10(c) constitution of body at national level to monitor and regulate the functioningof non-governmental organisations and obtain annual or regular reports from such organizations;15(d) providing adequate financial assistance to the non-governmentalorganisations entrusted with the task of preservation of historical heritage under this act on the recommendation of body constituted under clause (c);(e) entrusting responsibility on the non-governmental organisations responsibilefor maintenance, preservation and protection of historical heritage to create awareness among people about the importance of preservation and protection of historical heritage;20(f) provision of appropriate legal action against the non-governmentalorganisations involved in irregularities;(g) making the government department related to maintenance of historicalheritages as the nodal agency to implement the mechanism set up under sub-section (1)and to regulate and control the body constituted under clause (c);25(h) provision to empower the non-governmental organisations to collect minimumfee from the visitors after obtaining permission thereof from the body constituted under clause (c); and(i) entrusting responsibility of excavation, maintenance and supervision of otherheritages at local level to the non-governmental organisations304 (1) it shall be the duty of the duty of the appropriate government to ensure effectiveimplementation of the provisions of this actimplementationof the provisions of the act(2) the appropriate government shall monitor and review, from time to time, thefunctioning of non-governmental organisations engaged in preservation and protection of historical heritage in such manner, as may be prescribed355 the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament by lawin this behalf, provide adequate funds to the state governments for carrying out the provisions of this actcentral government to provide adequate fundspenalty406 if any non-governmental organisation indulges in any act which is or is likely to bedetrimental to the preservation and protection of any historical heritage, the appropriate government may initiate such action against such organisation as it may deem fit including imposition of fine and cancellation of recognitionpower to make rules7 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rulesfor carrying out the purposes of this act45(2) every rule made under this act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made,before each house of parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid,both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both the houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule statement of objects and reasonsindia is a unique nation in terms of its culture and heritage where the live examples of its thousands year old culture and civilization still exists in the form of various historical heritage monuments, sites and ruins etc these are the proof of our golden and glorious history which have an importance and respect not only for indians but for foreign nationals as well but it's very unfortunate that some of the heritage monuments neither earmarked or identified nor being maintained appropriately many historical building are losing their original shapes due to renovation and construction being done in their adjacent buildings proper monitoring, protection and security is very important the experience in this regard is not very positive so far therefore, a policy is required to be framed at community level in this regard apart from this, there is need to make efforts in this regard by entrusting nongovernment organizations for protection of heritage buildings we may get its effective benefit if the responsibility of better management, regulation and monitoring system is handed over to the local people where the heritage is situatedhence this billnew delhi;dhananjay b mahadikfebruary 13, 2018 financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for the setting up of a mechanism for maintenance, preservation and protection of historical heritage in the country it also provides for the constitution of body at national level to monitor and regulate the functioning of nongovernmental organisations it further provides for adequate financial assistance to the non-governmental organizations for carrying out the provisions of the act clause 5 provides for adequate funds to the state governments for carrying out the provision of the act the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india at this stage, it is difficult to give an exact estimate of the expenditure to be incurred on it however, it is estimated that a recurring expenditure of about rupees one thousand crore per annum will be incurred from the consolidated fund of indiano non-recurring expenditure is likely to be involved memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 7 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill as the rules will relate to matter of detail only, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character———— a billto provide for setting up of a mechanism to maintain, preserve and protect the identifiedand unidentified ancient, historical or archaeological sites, remains, monuments,modules and carvings in the country and for matters connected therewith————(shri dhananjay b mahadik,  mp)mgipmrnd—4582ls(s3)—13-03-2018