The Hindu : National : Supreme Court stays Waqf Board order on Taj

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Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005

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Supreme Court stays Waqf Board order on Taj

Legal Correspondent

Monument control vests only with the Centre: Archaeological Survey of India

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Waqf Board's order declaring the Taj Mahal a waqf property. The court action followed a special leave petition filed by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) questioning the July 13, 2005 order. After hearing Solicitor General G.E. Vahanvati, a Bench, comprising Justices Ruma Pal, S.B. Sinha and S.H. Kapadia, ordered notice to the respondents returnable in four weeks.

The ASI said the control, protection and preservation of the monument vested only with the Union Government.

The board failed to produce any waqf deed or its copy treating the Taj Mahal as having been dedicated by Emperor Shah Jahan to the waqf.

The board failed to note that the claim by Mohd Irfan Bedar that the property be bequeathed to him, as a descendent of the Mogul, was completely time barred.

By declaring the monument a waqf property, the board has ignored the issue of its title that was vested with the Centre.

Any attempt to register the Taj Mahal as a waqf property was illegal as it had been under the actual and physical possession of the ASI.

The declaration affecting the title of monument would lead to communal disharmony and law and order problems would arise, the ASI said and sought quashing of the impugned order.

The Bench appointed an expert committee to go into the environmental issues of the Taj Heritage Corridor Project.

The panel would consider how the debris on the Yamuna bed should he removed; assess the cost of the removal and restoration of the site to its original condition and the steps taken for construction of the project, subsequently stayed by the court.

The committee was asked to give its report in eight weeks.

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