The Archaeological Survey of India's circle office in Rajkot is teetering on the brink of being officially attached by a court in what could mark an unprecedented moment in the 164-year history of the research agency.
A direct fallout of a long-running land compensation dispute tied to one of India's most celebrated ancient sites, Dholavira, twice in recent weeks, bailiffs from a civil court in Bhachau, Gujarat, have visited the ASI office with attachment orders in hand.
During their second visit on June 11, they were stopped only after a phone call with ASI director-general Y.S. Rawat, a veteran archaeologist who once led key excavations at Dholavira — a Bronze Age city that once thrived on an island in the Rann of Kutch and was inscribed as a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2021.
"Any adverse (court) order could eventually put the world heritage site under threat as the core area would go under cultivation (by the farmers who are demanding more compensation),” an ASI source said.
Asked about the attachment proceedings — on which the ASI has been given an extended deadline of June 25 — joint director-general Nandini Bhattacharya Sahu told The Telegraph: “The payments are being reconsidered and the matter is between the ministry (of culture) and the ASI. We had already paid the amount in 2004, but in 2011 some of the landowners went to court, which gave its order in 2023…. Dholavira is not under threat as of now.”
Asked if any officials would be punished for jeopardising Dholavira, she added: “Right now, we are dealing with the urgent matter at hand (the attachment proceedings). Simultaneously, we are seeking legal opinion and will take necessary action.”
Dholavira — one of the five big Harappan sites — was discovered in the 1960s on an island in the Rann of Kutch. Excavations, which began in the 1990s, have indicated to have been inhabited from 3,000 to 1,500 BC.
In 2004, more land was acquired for excavations by the ASI, through the state government, at the rate of merely 64 paisa per square metre. Around 2011, the owners of nine parcels of the acquired land moved a local court in Kachchh's Bhachau for higher compensation as the land’s rate had increased.
In 2023, the court awarded the petitioners compensation at the rate of ₹9.57 per square metre. Neither did the ASI challenge the order, nor did it pay the petitioners, who moved the court again. On May 12, the principal senior civil judge of Bhachau passed the attachment order on ASI Rajkot’s office and assets.
Bailiff officers from the court visited the ASI office on May 14 and again on June 10. The superintending archaeologist G.K. Srivastava — an authority on the Indus Valley Civilisation who has recently taken charge in Rajkot — was able to prevent the attachment by making them speak to Rawat, who earlier headed the Gujarat government’s archaeology department. Court officials extended their deadline by 15 days.
The amount due to the petitioners with interest has now accrued to ₹1.14 crore. At least four of the landowners have passed away, and their heirs are now claimants. In a note to the DG on May 20, Srivastava said: "Still the rate of ₹9.57 is the lowest rate at which the compensation has been fixed. In all other cases, the rate of compensation fixed by the state government is more than ₹9.57."
An ASI official explained: "The integrated finance division of the culture ministry rejected the ASI's request to pay up, and recommended that the law ministry’s opinion be sought. They recommended that the responsibility for not challenging the lower court's order in 2023 be fixed on the official concerned."