Archaeology department director, deputy stripped of some powers

Junior officers in the Department of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage, no longer need to report only to their immediate bosses. They can do so directly to higher-ranking officers.

A recent order passed in February has stripped some of the powers of the director and deputy director in the department. To be precise, the said officers have no say in development works pertaining to archaeology. The commissioner is supreme.

According to the order dated February 23, 2012 (10 KMU 2012), a copy of which is available with Deccan Herald, the archaeology conservation engineer (ACE) shall directly function under the commissioner with regard to development of monuments and museums in their respective divisions.

They (ACEs) can also open offices in Mysore (Mangalore division), Bangalore (Bangalore division), Hampi (Gulbarga division) and Dharwad (Belgaum division).

The onus of maintenance, development and survey of museums and monuments, examining of estimates and recording monuments in different levels — before, during and after the restoration of monuments — is also on ACEs.

In the earlier order, effected in 2005, the said engineers had to assist the director, the additional director (now upgraded as director) and deputy directors regarding development of monuments.

They had to examine the estimates of conservations works and submit them to their immediate officers. The director has to prepare an action plan and execute it as directed by the commissioner.

Barring examining of the estimates for the conservation of monuments and referring it to the director, besides other development works, deputy directors are now left with the job of identifying encroachment of monuments, if any, among many other stipulated duties.

This has triggered animosity within the department with the ACEs playing the main role, when only two such engineers are on board. They are entrusted with the task of 763 protected monuments spread over four divisions in the State.

Among them, the highest number of 359 monuments are in Belgaum, followed by Gulbarga - 196, Mysore - 116, and Bangalore - 92. This apart, there are over 20,000 undeclared monuments in the State.

Earlier, there were four ACEs for an equal number of zones. Of them, two serving on deputation, recently returned to their home departments. That apart, the post of deputy director of archaeology earlier in Mysore, is now shifted to Mangalore.

The post of the director that was earlier only one, has now been split into two as director (archaeology) and (museums).