IGNCA's fate hangs in balance as Centre hardens stand
Anita Katyal
The Times of India
May 26, 1999
Title: IGNCA's fate hangs in balance as Centre hardens stand
Author: Anita Katyal
Publication: The Times of India
Date: May 26, 1999
One fall-out of the ongoing battle between the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) and the Congress party has been the government's hardening stand
on the future of the prestigious Indira Gandhi National Centre for the
Arts (IGNCA), headed by Sonia Gandhi, which has been in the eye of a
storm for some time now.
In a counter-affidavit filed in the Delhi high court on a public
interest litigation (PIL), the BJP-led government has gone as far to
say it would even take over the Centre's property, including the land
on which it stands.
The government's position is based on the attorney-general's opinion
on the unilateral decision of the IGNCA Trust amending the original
trust deed making six of the board members life-time trustees. This
includes Congress president Ms Sonia Gandhi, who heads the IGNCA.
Other founder trustees whose term was thus extended include former
president R. Venkatraman, former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and
former information adviser to the prime minister H.Y. Sharda Prasad.
According to the original trust deed, the term of the trustees was ten
years but this was amended to make them life-time trustees. The
original trust deed had also said that any amendments in the deed must
first be approved by the government. This stipulation was also
deleted. Set up by the Centre as a national institution to promote
arts, the IGNCA has been allocated a sprawling 21-acre plot of land
near the Central Vista and has, so far, been given Rs 84 crore for its
building and activities. Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was
originally the IGNCA president but after his death, this position went
to Ms Sonia Gandhi.
Solicitor-general Soli Sorabjee, consulted by the human resource
development (HRD) ministry, is learnt to have maintained the changes
introduced by the IGNCA Trust were "not validly made", having no scope
in the eyes of the law and that "the unamended provisions of the trust
deed continue to be operative." It was further stated that since the
original trust deed was approved by the cabinet, any changes in it
also required cabinet approval, which was not done in this case.
Sources in the HRD ministry explained this really means the present
IGNCA trust does not exist since the ten-year term of the present
trustees ended in 1995.
The government's affidavit says this legal position was explained to
the trust but there has been no response to its two letters. It also
says the Centre "will take all necessary steps and proceedings to
protect the interests of the government in respect of the moveable and
immoveable properties made available by the government to the IGNCA,
including resumption of the land if required."
Although the IGNCA controversy has been brewing for months now, the
BJP-led government had been lying low on it. However, the power
equations at the Centre have resulted in the BJP-led government
adopting this aggressive posture. While the government was dithering
on the issue, emissaries from the IGNCA camp, had even met HRD
minister Murli Manohar Joshi in this connection. Former prime
minister P.V. Narasimha Rao was reported to have got in touch with Mr
Joshi while former finance minister Manmohan Singh is believed to have
met the HRD minister twice over in this connection. Mr Rao is a
life-time trustee and Mr Singh a coopted trustee on the IGNCA board.
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