Legal wrangles may delay arrival of Gandhi's relic

The five personal belongings of Mahatma Gandhi, which were auctioned in New York, may take some more time to reach India as the government is still discussing the legalities involved with the US Justice department. "The Government is still pursuing with its earlier stand that the auction is illegal as per the will of Gandhi and the injunction of Delhi High Court with US Justice Department," a senior official in the Culture Ministry told PTI.

Five personal belongings of Gandhi were auctioned on February 5 at Antiquorum Auctioneers in New York despite the government's intervention to stop the sale. Though liquor baron Vijay Mallya emerged as the highest bidder at USD 1.8 million, the Gandhi memorabilia could not be handed over to him owing to several legal complications.

To a question whether custom duty would be waived off on the items on their arrival here, the official said there is an import policy to deal with the issue. According to the import policy, any such item intended for display in public institutions, including national museum or any other public place, is to be exempted from custom duty. But if these items are imported for private purpose or for private collections, then custom duty would be imposed,the policy states.

"If Mallya commits in writing that the Gandhi memorabilia

acquired from the auction house are for the public museum or public institutions then the existing law does not allow any duty to be imposed on it," the official said. However, the government is yet to receive any such communication from Mallya, he said.

Meanwhile, James Otis, who put the articles on auction, has stated that he does not approve of the sale and wants his items back. The Gandhi items were auctioned amid a controversy over the ownership of the items. Reacting to Otis' latest stand, the official said this may add another dimension to the whole proceeding. "But we are consistent on our stand and we are trying to prevail upon the US administration that the auction is illegal as all these items belong to Navjivan Trust, according to the Gandhi will," said the official, noting the interim injunction passed by the Delhi High Court to this effect.

The Navjivan Trust founded by Gandhi had moved the Delhi HC stating that the items were illegally taken away from the country and the Mahatma himself had written in his will that all his belongings used and owned by him will go to the Trust. The next hearing of the matter is scheduled in May inDelhi High Court. "So in compliance with the High Court order, the Ministry of External Affairs is actively pursuing the matter with the US Justice Department," the official added.