It will become tougher to copy antique art without the government’s permission and traders caught transporting art treasures out of the country will face stiffer prison terms.

The Culture Ministry is giving its finishing touches to the Cabinet note on amendment to the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, which seeks to impose strict penalty on those who export antiquities without a valid licence. Expected to be tabled in Parliament’s Winter Session after nearly a two-decade-long debate, the amendment, the third since the Act came into being in 1972, proposes to increase imprisonment for violators from the current six months to three years. The Cabinet has already given its approval and has suggested a few “minor corrections” before it is sent to the Law Ministry for tabling in Parliament.

At present, Section 25 of the Act, which deals with punishment of violators does not clearly specify the amount of fine. The proposed amendment wants a minimum imposition of Rs 5,000 on violators.

Aimed at curbing rampant manufacture of replicas of historically-significant art treasures, a new rule will make it mandatory to seek prior approval from the Director-general of the Archaeological Survey of India. The ASI, the main regulatory authority of some 3,667 monuments in the country, has recorded 44 theft cases of rare sculptures, 32 of them in the past three years. Only 14 of these pieces have been recovered.

In August, Culture and Tourism Minister Ambika Soni had told Parliament that 35 monuments have become untraceable owning to rapid urbanisation, including rock carvings in J-K, Sher Shah’s guns in Assam and several monuments in the Delhi region. “Despite penal provisions in the Act, hardly anyone has been prosecuted. The new rule will make it harder to export rare objects of antique value out of the country,” said a government source.

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