New Delhi, February 9 The Tamil Nadu state archaeology department has forwarded 45 proposals to seek approval from the Centre for conducting archaeological excavations, the government told Parliament on Monday.
Eight of the twelve requests for digging submitted in 2025 are "under consideration," the government further said.
DMK MP Kanimozhi also asked whether the government is aware that the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court has recently directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to "positively consider and extend full cooperation to any request" made by the Tamil Nadu government for continuing archaeological excavations at Adichanallur in Thoothukudi.
In response, Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said, "Yes, sir."
Kanimozhi represents Thoothukudi in the Lok Sabha.
Shekhawat was also asked for year-wise details of the number of requests received by the ASI from the Tamil Nadu government "seeking permission or cooperation" for archaeological excavations during the last five years and the current year, as well as the details of the number of such requests approved, "rejected or pending, along with the reasons for non-approval."
In his response, the Union minister shared year-wise details of the proposals forwarded by the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology for "seeking approval of the Government of India for conducting archaeological excavation" for 2021-2026.
According to the data, "45 proposals" have been forwarded by Tamil Nadu's state archaeology department for seeking approval of the Centre for conducting archaeological excavations.
In 2025, it submitted 12 proposals, of which four have been approved, and the remaining eight are "under consideration," according to the data.
The number of proposals received from Tamil Nadu's state archaeology department in other years was: 12 in 2021, eight in 2022, three in 2023, and 10 in 2024. All these requests were approved, according to the data.
In August 2025, MPs Kanimozhi and S Venkatesan had also raised queries to Shekhawat regarding the Keezhadi excavation in Tamil Nadu, which has been the subject of controversy.
The report on the Keezhadi excavation for the first two seasons was "reviewed" by experts, and "deficiencies" in methodology, chronology, interpretation, presentation, and analytical rigor were communicated to the lead excavator, the government had told Lok Sabha then.
He was also asked the reasons for the "delay" in publishing the excavation report of the Keezhadi archaeological site, despite the completion of multiple excavation phases.
"The excavation report for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons was received by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in January 2023 and has since undergone expert review in accordance with standard protocol. This process is essential to ensuring academic integrity and is not intended to delay or diminish the significance of the findings," Shekhawat had said.