The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday directed the Ministry of Culture and the Archaeological Survey of India to shift all Tamil documents and estampages preserved in its epigraphy branch in Mysore to the branch in Chennai in six months.
A Division Bench of Justices N. Kirubakaran and M. Duraiswamy also directed the Centre and ASI to name the epigraphy branch of the Archaeological Survey of India in Chennai as the epigraphy branch-Tamil.
The court directed the State government to provide adequate infrastructure to the epigraphy branch in Chennai.
Further, the judges directed ASI to appoint the required number of epigraphists and other officials as per the number of inscriptions in each language.
PIL petitions
The court was hearing a batch of PIL petitions that sought a direction to the Centre and the ASI to shift Tamil documents and estampages of inscriptions at the epigraphy branch in Mysore to the one in Chennai. The petitioners said the estampages were not adequately protected. The petitions were disposed of with the direction.
Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/shift-tamil-documents-estampages-to-chennai/article36008286.ece
