The Supreme Court on Monday delegated the responsibility of taking all decisions related to preservation of the Taj Mahal to the Director- General of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). It also gave the sole authority to file affidavits with regard to implementation of the Vision Document prepared for overall development of Agra town and neighbouring districts to a Joint Secretary in the Union Environment Ministry and the Agra Commissioner, acting on behalf of the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh Government, respectively.
After the apex court had rebuked the Centre and State for not owning up to save the 17th century iconic monument, Attorney General KK Venugopal informed a Bench of Justices Madan B lokur and Deepak Gupta that all decisions with regard to Taj Mahal and the Taj Trapezium Zone will be taken by the Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. At the State level, the Commissioner, Agra Division who is the ex-officio Chairman of TTZ Authority will be the decision making authority.
As regards the preservation and upkeep of monument, ASI Director General will be fully responsible for any activity that takes place inside the monument or within its 500 metre radius. Even with regard to preparation of Heritage Management plan, ASI informed that they share this report with UNESCO every six years and the last report was dispatched in 2013.
The Bench wondered why no report was sent since then when the court has been expressing concern on a daily basis about the fading beauty of the Taj, which features as the only Indian monument to be designated as a World Heritage Site. The Bench said, “An organisation like UNESCO has to express concern about Taj Mahal. This is our problem. Our concern should be far greater than that shown by the UNESCO.” Environmentalist and petitioner in this case, MC Mehta submitted that it was high time the TTZ authority is revamped. He called it a “club” and demanded independent members to be inducted into the authority who have vision and dedication to the cause of environment.
A-G Venugopal supported suggestions from the petitioner and was open to have a special committee on the lines of an expert panel to replace TTZ. The State Government was more cautious claiming that any suggestions for revamp will be appreciated. The court asked Mehta to file his suggestion by August 28.
