HC to hear PIL seeking protection of Gandhian legacy

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court will tomorrow hear a PIL seeking direction to the Centre to take over the management of National Gandhi Museum and three other museums to safeguard rare letters, films, photographs and other historic items related to Mahatma Gandhi.

The PIL, which has made party the Centre, through Ministry of Culture, Delhi government and Chairman of Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya Samiti, which manages National Gandhi Museum in the capital, is scheduled to be heard by a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice R S Endlaw.

The petition, filed by advocate G L Verma, has alleged that there have been "grave financial irregularities apart from disappearance of rare Gandhian legacy including rare letters, films, photographs, historic items such as blood- stained clothes and lathi used by Mahatma Gandhi during Dandi March as all of them have been either replaced or damaged".

The PIL has claimed that the government took no action on the recommendations of Justice Kudal Commission, which was set up in 1981 to inquire the misuse of foreign and state funds by NGOs working in the name of Mahatma Gandhi "without being accountable for their acts of omission and commission".

Expressing concern over protecting the Gandhian legacy for the interest of the country and future generations, the advocate has sought a special scrutiny and audit into the working of National Gandhi Museum by the Centre in the light of observations of Kudal Commission.