Section 0

An Act to provide for the management of the Public Museum at Calcutta. WHEREAS, by Act No. XVII of 1866, reciting that it was expedient to provide for the establishment of a Public Museum at Calcutta, to be called the Indian Museum, it was enacted that the Governor General in Council should cause to be erected at the expense of the Government of India a suitable building in Calcutta, to be devoted in part to collections illustrative of Indian Archaeology and of the several branches of Natural History, in part to the preservation and exhibition of other objects of interest, whether historical, physical or economical, in part to the records and offices of the Geological Survey of India, and in part to the fit accommodation of the Asiatic Society of Bengal and to the reception of their library, manuscripts, maps, coins, busts, pictures, engravings and other property; and it was also enacted that the Government of India should keep the said building in repair and pay and defray the salaries, allowances and pensions of the officers and servants, and all other expenses connected with the said Museum; and by the Act now in recital certain officials and other persons therein mentioned or referred to, to the number of thirteen, and their successors, were constituted a Body Corporate by the name of the Trustees of the Indian Museum, and the said Trustees were empowered to receive bequests, donations and subscriptions, and to deal with the same in the manner therein [Price two annas and nine pies.] therein mentioned for the purposes of their trusts therein mentioned; and it was also enacted that the said Trustees should have the exclusive possession, occupation and control, for the purposes of such trusts, of the said building, other than those portions thereof which, upon its completion, should be set apart by the said Trustees for the records and offices of the said Geological Survey and for the accommodation of the said Asiatic Society and the reception of their library, manuscripts, maps, coins, busts, pictures, engravings and other property; and it was also enacted that all officers and servants, salaried or otherwise, employed in the care or management of the trust-property, should be appointed, and might be removed or suspended, by the said Trustees, subject to such regulations and conditions as the said Trustees should think proper; and it was also enacted that the Council of the said Asiatic Society should cause the collections belonging to such Society, and illustrative of Indian Archaeology and the several branches of Natural History, and all additions that might be made thereto, to be removed to and deposited in the said building at the expense of the Government of India as soon as the same should be completed so far as to be in a condition to receive the said collections, and that an inventory of the articles in such collections should be made by the said Society, one copy whereof was to be signed by the said Trustees and kept by the said Society, and another copy was to be signed by the said Society and kept by the said Trustees, and that the said Society should continue to have the same exclusive property in and control over their said library, manuscripts, maps, coins, busts, pictures and engravings which they then possessed, and that the Council of the said Society should have the exclusive possession, occupation and control, for the purposes of the said Society, of those portions of the said building which should be set apart for the accommodation of the said Society and the reception of their library and other property therein before mentioned; And 1876.] Indian Museum. And whereas the Government of India has caused the said building to be erected, and the Council of the said Society has caused the said collections belonging to the same Society to be removed to and deposited in the said building at the expense of the Government of India; and an inventory of the articles in such collections has been made by the said Society, one copy whereof has been signed by the said Trustees and delivered to the said Society, and another copy has been signed by the Council of the said Society and delivered to the said Trustees; And whereas the said Trustees have, in pursuance of the said Act, set apart certain portions of the said building for the said records and offices of the Geological Survey of India; And whereas, in consideration of a sum of one hundred and fifty thousand rupees paid to them by the Government of India, the Council of the said Society has relinquished the exclusive possession, occupation and control secured to them by the said Act, of the portions of the said building which, under the said Act, were to be set apart for the accommodation of the said Society and the reception of their said Library and other property; And whereas it is expedient to alter the constitution of the said Body Corporate and to amend the law relating to the appointment and salaries of the said officers: And whereas under the circumstances aforesaid it is expedient to repeal the said Act, and to re-enact it with the modifications hereinafter appearing; It is hereby enacted as follows:— Preliminary. 1. This Act may be called "The Indian Museum Act, 1876."