Karnataka High Court upholds the prohibited and regulated area provisions of the Ancient Monuments Act

20 October 2026

Justice M.G.S. Kamal of the Karnataka High Court decided Writ Petition No. 10451 of 2018 filed by B.R. Ramakrishna against the Union of India.
The Court upheld the constitutional validity of Sections 20A, 20B and 20C of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, which were inserted by the Amendment Act of 2010.
Under these provisions the prohibited area runs 100 metres in all directions from a centrally protected monument, and the regulated area runs a further 200 metres from the limit of the prohibited area.
The Court held that the classification of areas is neither unreasonable nor vague, and connected it to the duty of the State under Article 49 to protect monuments.
It held that regulating land use is not expropriation, and said a reduction in the utilisation of land cannot be equated with expropriation of the land.
The petition was partly allowed because the records of the Archaeological Survey of India did not show how the 59-metre distance from the boundary of the Madhugiri Fort was established.
The authorities were directed to reconsider the petitioner's representation after a fresh survey within three months.