Residents have served a notice to government authorities in Punjab demanding the eviction of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Fort in Phillaur and its handing over to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The national monument currently houses the Punjab Police Academy.

Dilbag Singh, a resident of Baina Pur village and a social activist, sent the notice on behalf of residents to the chief secretary of Punjab, the principal secretary of home affairs and justice, the director general of Punjab Police and the director general of the police academy.

Dilbag Singh said due to the alleged encroachment, the fort has not been opened to tourists and the public and if no action is taken on his notice for the “demand of justice” within a month, he would be constrained to file a civil writ petition in Punjab and Haryana High Court for vacating the fort.

Dilbag Singh said the Union government declared the fort a monument of national importance through a notification issued on September 7, 2011. He said the fort should be handed over to the ASI at the earliest so that conservation work could be undertaken as per archaeological norms and the monument is open to the public.

He said that Justice Hemant Gupta of Punjab and Haryana High Court, while disposing of his contempt petition on September 27, 2010, had ordered that in view of the notification declaring the fort as a monument of national importance, consequential steps shall be taken in accordance with the law.

“Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice Surya Kant of Punjab and Haryana High Court disposing of a civil petition on August 25 2008 said that it goes without saying that if the government of India eventually declares the fort at Phillaur as a monument of national importance, all consequences otherwise flowing from such declaration would follow,” he said.

In the last 12 years, Punjab Police repeatedly rejected all requests by the ASI to hand over the fort, he added.