SC asks ASI to file its response on vision document for preserving Taj Mahal

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan directed the Uttar Pradesh government to produce a copy of the vision document and instructed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to submit its response to the vision document within two months.

"We direct the State of Uttar Pradesh to produce a copy of the vision plan on record and provide soft copies thereof to the learned counsel appearing for the parties," the apex court stated in its order.

"We direct the ASI to look into the vision plan and submit its response to the vision plan in the form of an affidavit before this Court within a period of two months from today. The issue of implementation of the vision plan and the suggestions of ASI will be considered by this Court on July 11, 2024," it added.

The vision document was prepared by the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) along with the State.

The bench noted that on December 8, 2017, it directed the preparation of the vision plan for the protection of the Taj Mahal.

The apex court was hearing a plea seeking the implementation of a vision document to preserve the Taj Mahal and environmental issues in the Taj Trapezium Zone.

It has now posted the matter for further consideration on July 11, 2024, to discuss the implementation of the vision document along with the comments of the Archaeological Survey of India.

The top court is seized of the matter filed in 1984 related to the protection and preservation of the Taj Mahal, built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal in 1631, and its surroundings.

Environmentalist MC Mehta had filed the plea about the protection of the Taj Mahal, the fragile ecosystem surrounding it, and construction in the Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ), an "eco-sensitive area" having four world heritage sites including the Taj Mahal. The mausoleum is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The TTZ, established on December 30, 1996, to protect the Taj Mahal from pollution through an order of the Supreme Court, is a 10,400 sq km area spread across the districts of Agra, Firozabad, Mathura, Hathras and Etah in Uttar Pradesh and Bharatpur district of Rajasthan. (ANI)