HC directs Centre, State to file counter to pleas on Keeladi excavations
The petitions, filed in 2016 and 2017, sought a direction to authorities to continue archaeological excavations and not to close the site; one of the petitions had sought a ‘site museum’
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the Centre and the State to file additional counter affidavits to a batch of public interest litigation petitions pertaining to archaeological excavations at Keeladi in Sivaganga district.
A Division Bench of Justices D. Krishnakumar and R. Vijayakumar directed the authorities to file the counter affidavits to the petitions that were filed in 2016 and 2017.
The petitions had sought a direction to the authorities concerned to continue the archaeological excavations in Keeladi and not to close the site. One of the petitions had sought a direction to the authorities to set up a ‘site museum’ at Keeladi.
In April 2023, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin inaugurated the ninth phase of the excavations and it concluded in September 2023. While the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) carried out the first three phases of the excavations, the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology carried out the excavations from the fourth phase.
In March 2023, Mr. Stalin opened the Keeladi museum. The museum was built on two acres at a cost of ₹18.43 crore.
According to the report submitted recently to the ASI by K. Amarnath Ramakrishna, the then Superintending Archaeologist who led the first two phases of the excavations, the Sangam Age has been pushed to 800 BCE.
In 2019, while hearing a batch of petitions that had sought a direction to the Centre and the State to protect the archaeological sites in Tamil Nadu, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court had observed that the excavations should continue as fruitful results on Tamil civilisation had been achieved.
The court had advised the authorities concerned to see to it that such archaeological excavations were being continued without any hindrance, as the public would know more about Tamil civilisation through the excavations.