New Delhi/Washington - The Indian government was on Thursday considering a proposal that would stop an auction of Mahatma Gandhi's personal artefacts, collector James Otis told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Gandhi's iconic round-rimmed spectacles, a 1910 silver Zenith pocket watch, sandals, bowl, "thali" (plate) and letters of authenticity were to go under the hammer at 3:30 pm (2030 GMT) Thursday at New York-based Antiquorum Auctioneers, despite protests in India and an injunction from a New Delhi court.

Otis, a documentary film maker and "peace activist," offered to stop the auction if the Indian government agreed to either of two proposals - spend more on health care for the poor or create an international travelling Gandhi exhibit.

"We had several hours of talks Wednesday. At first the Indian officials tried to intimidate me, saying they would contact Interpol and declare me a fugitive," Otis told dpa, "but by late evening the discussions were positive."

He said the proposal was sent to New Delhi for government approval and would then need to be vetted by his lawyers before Thursday afternoon's auction could be cancelled.

"We still have a long way to go, but if India moves fast enough, I'm hopeful we'll have a solution. I'll be very happy if Gandhi's artefacts are returned to India - that's what he would have liked," Otis told dpa.

Otis' first proposal was that the Indian government should agree to spend a higher proportion of its budget on health care for the poor by shifting priority from military spending.

He was also amenable to the government supporting educational events in 78 nations - one for each year that Gandhi lived - to promote his philosophy of non-violence. If the government accepted either proposal, he was willing to stop the auction.

"The matter is under discussion," an official at India's Foreign Ministry in Delhi said.

Asked whether failing an agreement, India was prepared to bid for the items, he said, "As of now we are in contact with Mr Otis and the auction house."

The items "are an indivisible part of (India's) national heritage. They are closely associated with the sentiments of all Indians and belong to the nation as a whole," the Indian consulate in New York said in a statement.

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued an injunction to stop the auction, based on a petition filed by the Navajivan Trust started by Gandhi in 1929, which said the artefacts could not be sold because they belonged to India and had been illegally taken away.

The Indian government said Navajivan was the "custodian of all properties belonging to Mahatma Gandhi," and the consulate had asked the auctioneers to cancel the sale of the items and donate them to India.

Gandhi prepared a will saying that he did not believe in property, but anything under social convention considered his was endowed to his appointed heirs - the Navjivan Trust.

Tushar Gandhi, a great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, said the demands made by Otis were far-fetched. He expressed doubts that the California collector seriously intended to stop the auction scheduled for Thursday.

Meanwhile, a group of Indian origin businessmen based in the United States is planning to bid for the items if the auction goes ahead, IANS reported.

"The only only aim is to buy them so that no one else can buy them and they can be sent to India," New York-based hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal was quoted as saying.

The reserve price set by Antiquorum Auctioneers for the Gandhi artefacts is between 20,000 and 30,000 dollars, but the interest generated by the controversy is expected to push up the price. (dpa)