‘Mockery of PIL’: HC rejects plea on Taj Mahal

ALLAHABAD: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Thursday rejected a plea to open 22 closed rooms in the Taj Mahal to ascertain the presence of Hindu idols, calling it a “mockery” of the public interest litigation (PIL) system and asking the petitioner to research the topic first.

A division bench of justices DK Upadhyay and Subhash Vidyarthi said the petition was not maintainable and lay outside the powers of judicial review.

“Tomorrow you will come and ask us to go to chambers of honourable judges? Please, don’t make a mockery of the PIL system. I welcome you to debate the issue with us in the drawing room and not in a court of law,” the court stated.

The plea was filed by Rajneesh Singh, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) youth media in-charge that sought directions to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to probe the 22 closed rooms in the Taj Mahal to ascertain the presence of idols of Hindu deities.

He said that he had filed right to information applications seeking details of these facts but was unsuccessful.

But the court held that it couldn’t adjudicate on such issues, and said it was outside the scope and authority of the court to order research or study on an issue.

“Are these issues debatable in a court of law? Are we judges trained and equipped with such things?” the court further asked.