AJAY KUMAR MITTAL Vs. UOI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Are philatelic exhibits "antiquities" within the meaning of the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972? The parties before me have joined issue on this query which, therefore, this judgement attempts to answer.

(2.) The petitioner is a philatelist.

(3.) The philatelic materials which interest the petitioner include postage and fiscal stamps, envelopes, stamp papers and other such documents which, as per Mr. Sunil Mittal, learned Counsel for the petitioner, may be of more than a century's vintage. The petitioner claims to own various philatelic collections and has, by way of examples, referred to exhibits, exhibited by the petitioner at various philatelic exhibitions, relating to the ancient postal system of the Indore Princely Estate, fiscals of the Indore Princely Estate, fiscals of the Kishangarh Princely State and fiscals of Khairagarh Princely State, among others. The petitioner is a member of the Philatelic Congress of India (PCI) which, as per the petition, is the apex body of philatelists in the country. The PCI, in turn, is a member of the Federation of International Asian Philately (FIAP) and the Federation of International Philately (FIP). The FIP, according to the petition, is an international body to which all national Philatelic Federations, including the PCI, are affiliated.