VP intervenes in PU’s heritage auction matter

New Delhi, April 18

The office of Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu today 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. VP is the Chancellor of PU.

In a letter to PU V-C Arun Grover, the VP office directed the PU V-C Arun Grover 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 V-C has gone from 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 like the US and France and this had been happening for last more than a decade.

Jagga said, “I am moving a fresh representation to request you to look into the matter because Article 51-A of the Constitution of India has cast upon a duty on citizen 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 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,  as the case may be.” – TNS