The Owner, the Guardian and the Power to Acquire

In one line

A graduated set of powers that begins with an agreement, proceeds through an order, and ends in compulsory acquisition, with the public's right of access running through all of it.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: section 9 empowers the Central Government, where an owner refuses or fails to enter into an agreement, to make an order providing for the same matters, binding on him and on everyone claiming through him, after an opportunity to make a written representation, the Government then bearing all reasonable expenses of maintenance; section 13 empowers it, where it apprehends that a protected monument is in danger of being destroyed, injured, misused or allowed to fall into decay, to acquire it under the land acquisition law as if maintenance were a public purpose; section 18 gives the public a right of access; and section 19 forbids construction, mining, quarrying, excavating or blasting in a protected area without the Central Government's permission.

The ladder

Step one, the agreement, section 6, taken in the last chapter.

Step two, the substitutes for an owner, section 7. If the owner is unable by reason of infancy or other disability to act for himself, a person legally competent to act on his behalf may exercise an owner's powers under section 6; and in the case of village property, the headman or other village officer exercising powers of management may do so. Section 7(3) is the safeguard to remember: nobody not of the same religion as the person on whose behalf he acts may make or execute an agreement relating to a monument, or a part of it, periodically used for the religious worship or observances of that religion.

Step three, the endowment, section 8. Where the person competent refuses or fails to enter into an agreement, and an endowment exists for keeping the monument in repair, the Central Government may sue in the court of the district judge, or, where the estimated cost of repair does not exceed one thousand rupees, apply to the district judge, for the proper application of the endowment. The district judge may summon and examine the owner and any necessary witness and pass an order, executable as a decree of a civil court.

Step four, the order, section 9. On refusal or failure to enter into an agreement, the Central Government may make an order providing for all or any of the matters in section 6(2), binding on the owner and on every person claiming title from, through or under him. Section 9(2): where the order provides that the owner shall maintain the monument, all reasonable expenses of maintenance are payable by the Central Government. Section 9(3): no such order without an opportunity of making a representation in writing.