Lucknow: The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court Thursday rejected the petition seeking to open 22 closed doors in Taj Mahal.
The court dismissed the petition as not maintainable. A division bench of Justice DK Upadhyay and Justice Subhash Vidyarthi passed the order on the petition filed by Dr. Rajneesh Kumar Singh, the media in charge of the BJP's Ayodhya unit.
The court said that the demands made in the petition cannot be decided in judicial proceedings. The court further said that this research is academic work in relation to Taj Mahal, it cannot be ordered in judicial proceedings. The court has considered the matters and prayer raised in the petition not maintainable.
Earlier, the counsel for the petitioner submitted that a committee should be appointed by the court and a truth which the citizens of the country need to know about the Taj Mahal, must come out. "Please allow me to go to those rooms and do the research", he pleaded.
"Tomorrow you'll come and ask us to go to the chambers of Hon'ble judges of this court?", the bench questioned. The bench further asked if it was for the Court to decide who built the historical monument. "You hold that the structure (Taj Mahal) was not made by Shah Jahan? Are we here to pronounce any verdict? Please don't take us to the historical facts which you believe", the bench said.
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General SB Pandey, appearing for the Central Government, raised questions on the maintainability of the petition regarding the jurisdiction and not filing the petition as a PIL. At the same time, the court also asked the counsel for the petitioner during the debate how the High Court can decide the question raised in this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution.
After the court refused to entertain the plea, Rudra Vikram Singh, lawyer for the petitioner, said, "We will challenge this order in the Supreme Court. Before moving to the Supreme Court, we will approach the Department of History and the Archaeological Survey of India."
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