The Supreme Court (SC) questioned the Uttar Pradesh Government about who was in charge of the Taj Mahal. The preservation of the UNESCO World Heritage Site has been under question for a while now.
On Thursday, the SC took up the issue again and asked the UP Government, “Who is exactly the in-charge of the Taj Mahal?” The Court observed and stated, “The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. It is surprising. Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ) authority has done nothing since it was set up in 1996.”
Justice Lokur was quoted as saying, “Someone has to take responsibility. There has to be one authority which takes charge. It seems that authorities have washed their hands off the Taj.”
Representing the UP Government Attorney General K. K. Venugopal said, “Yellowing of the Taj was prevented and after chemical treatment, it was made white again. But now, Taj is decaying again. UNESCO is thinking about declassifying the Darjeeling railway from the list of Heritage sites. It will be a huge embarrassment for the country if Taj is also removed.”
The Court then asked the UP Government about short term measures as a detailed plan would take months. But the Government was not ready with any short term plans but submitted a draft vision which could take years to fully implement.
During the argument the TTZ Commissioner expressed his department lacked enough employees. The Commissioner further stated the TTZ had sent the UP Government over 25 letters regarding the lack of staff but there was no response.
The SC bench was shocked and asked, “What is this? This has become a joke.”In May the Court criticised the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) for failing to maintain the Taj Mahal. The pristine white of the Taj Mahal is slowly but steadily turning green and brown due to algae.
The Apex Court was quoted as saying, “The problem is that ASI is not willing to accept that there is a problem. This situation would not have arisen if the ASI had done its job.”
The Court also said the ASI should not be protecting one of the Country’s renowned structure if it was not willing to accept there is a problem.
