Supreme Court orders demolition of parking lot at Taj Mahal
The bench said that the parking ground could be an environmental hazard.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday stepped in to protect world heritage monument Taj Mahal by ordering demolition of a parking lot surrounding it.
A bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta passed the order on an application from environmentalist M.C. Mehta, who alleged that the UP government had not obtained necessary environmental clearances.
The bench directed Agra authorities to demolish within four weeks the parking lot for tourists which was being built within one kilometre of the eastern gate of the 17th century mausoleum.
When the matter came up for hearing on Tuesday , the top court asked about the presence of the counsel appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government. When it was informed that no advocate was present, the bench said the parking lot would be demolished.
Soon after the order was passed, Uttar Pradesh additional advocate general Aishwarya Bhati brought to the notice of the court that the demolition order was passed when the state counsel was not present and the application seeking permission for construction of a multi-level car parking lot was pending. At present, a two-storey parking lot exists near the eastern gate of the Taj Mahal. The bench told the counsel that the application has been dismissed for default (non-appearance of lawyer) and the state could file a fresh application for restoration, which would be considered.
The bench said that the parking ground could be an environmental hazard.
In the last hearing, the apex court pulled up the state and the Central government for seeking its permission to cut over 400 trees to lay down an additional railway track between Mathura in Uttar Pradesh to Delhi. The Centre said that in order to clear the bottleneck of train movement, it was necessary to lay down the additional track in the stretch. The court would hear the matter next month.
The Bench had observed in August “Do you want to destroy the world famous Taj Mahal. This (Taj Mahal) is a world-famous monument and you (government) want to destroy it? Have you seen the recent pictures of Taj? Go to the Internet and have a look at it. If you want, then file an affidavit or application and say that the Union of India wants to destroy the Taj.”