VP intervenes, seeks PU VC’s comments

NEW DELHI: The office of Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday intervened in the issue of rampant auctioning of heritage furniture designed by Le Corbusier for Panjab University, asking the PU Vice-Chancellor to furnish his comments on the matter at the earliest.

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 18

The office of Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday intervened in the issue of rampant auctioning of heritage furniture designed by Le Corbusier for Panjab University, asking the PU Vice-Chancellor to furnish his comments on the matter at the earliest. The Vice-President is the Chancellor of the PU.

In a letter to PU VC Arun Grover, the VP office directed the VC to review the matter of continuing auction of furniture designed by Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret and asked him to look at a representation made in this regard by Chandigarh-based activist Ajay Jagga.

The letter to the VC has gone from the Vice-President’s Secretariat officer Hurbi Shakeel and mentions Jagga’s representation.

The representation Jagga earlier made to the VP mentioned that heritage furniture of Panjab University was being regularly auctioned in foreign countries such as the US and France and this had been happening for the past over a decade.

Jagga said in his representation, “I am moving a fresh representation to request you to look into the matter because Article 51-A of the Constitution has cast upon a duty on citizens to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture and to safeguard public property.”

He said the Constitution also cast upon the state and the UT the duty to protect such items under Article 49 which says, “It shall be the obligation of the state to protect every monument or place or object of artistic or historic interest declared by or under the law made by Parliament to be of national importance, from spoliation, disfigurement, destruction, removal, disposal or export, as the case may be.”

Jagga flagged to the VP several PU heritage furniture auctions that took place in Chicago recently and said, “PU’s heritage furniture is being auctioned for crores abroad and the PU is constantly reporting a fund crunch. This is ironical.”

Among these items was a writing chair from the PU, which was auctioned for $4,875.

Jagga, member, Heritage Protection Cell of the UT, had earlier written to Grover and had also met him to discuss the issue.