Section 10 in The West Bengal Preservation Of Historical Monuments And Objects And Excavation Of Archaeological Sites Act, 1957.
10. Compulsory acquisition of a State-protected monument.
(1)If the State Government apprehends that a State-protected monument is in danger of being destroyed, injured, altered, mutilated, defaced, removed or dispersed or of falling into decay, the State Government may acquire it under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, as if the preservation of the State-protected monument were a "public purpose" within the meaning of the Act.(2)The powers of compulsory acquisition conferred by sub-section (1) shall not be exercised in the case of -(a)any monument which or any part of which is periodically used for religious observances; or(b)any monument which is the subject of a subsisting agreement executed under section 5:Provided that in case of repeated infringement of the agreement by the owner as stated in section 7 the State Government may exercise its powers of compulsory acquisition.(3)In any case other than the cases referred to in sub-section (2) the said powers of compulsory acquisition shall not be exercised unless the owner or other person competent to enter into an agreement under section 5 has failed, within such reasonable period as the Collector may fix in this behalf, to enter into an agreement proposed to him under the said section or has terminated or given notice of his intention to terminate such an agreement.(4)In cases of urgency whenever the State Government so directs, the Collector, though no award has been made, may, on the expiration of 15 days from the date of publication of the notice mentioned in section 9, sub-section (1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, take possession of the State-protected monument. Such monument shall thereupon vest absolutely in the State Government free from all encumbrances.
