Museum panel clean: Ministry

NEW DELHI, December 8: The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) has termed as baseless'' the doubts raised over the suita...

NEW DELHI, December 8: The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) has termed as “baseless” the doubts raised over the suitability of names shortlisted for the post of chairman of the Physical Verification Committee that it is appointing to judge the authenticity of artifacts in the National Museum.

Dismissing the contents of the application filed by the National Archives and Museums Employees Union before the Delhi High Court, which raised questions about the suitability of the names proposed by the government, the ministry in its court affidavit today said such suspicion had no basis.

The division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Justice K.S. Gupta later directed the petitioner to file its rejoinder to the government’s contention, if it wished to, within three weeks.

Story continues below this ad

The government had proposed the names of Prof B.N. Goswami, Mira Seth, Bhaskar Ghose and M. Vardarajan as independent experts in the field of art, one of whom could head the committee, after the Delhi High Court on November 13 directed it to make the appointment without further delay.

The government had maintained that the decision would be taken as soon as they expressed their consent. But the petitioner expressed doubts over three names on the ground that they did not have the experience to judge the authenticity of the artifacts.

However, the government, in its affidavit, submitted that the names suggested for appointment were “indicative” of the stature of the kind of person the government would like to appoint. The case will come up for further hearing on January 11.