A plea was moved in Delhi High Court on Wednesday seeking direction to the Centre to investigate the irregularities allegedly caused by the officers of the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) here.
The plea, filed by a social worker, came up for hearing before a vacation bench of justices V. Kameswar Rao and I.S. Mehta, who fixed the matter for hearing on July 13.
Petitioner Sharad Tiwari, in his plea filed through advocate Sugriva Dubey, stated that the NGMA, a sprawling complex at the India Gate roundabout, is not being managed properly and there was a threat that the costly items preserved there could be stolen.
Mr. Tiwari claimed that even after the findings of an audit, the Ministry of Culture and the NGMA have not taken any action in respect of the irregularities pointed out by the Auditor General, whose report has been kept in abeyance allegedly at the instance of some persons, who are close to top bureaucrats of the ministry under which the art gallery is maintained.
“The details of the audit report for the year 2012-13, 2013-14 have not been given and the same have been concealed,” the plea said.
The NGMA is the premier art gallery under the Centre. The main museum at Jaipur House was established on March 29, 1954, with subsequent branches at Mumbai and Bangalore.
Its collection of more than 14,000 items includes works by renowned artists including Rabindranath Tagore. Some of the oldest works preserved here date back to 1857. The Delhi branch is one of the world’s largest modern art museums. — PTI
