SC against judges' visit to Taj for inspection

New Delhi, Oct 9: The Supreme Court today turned down the government's suggestion that the judges should visit Taj Mahal for an on the spot inspection of the state of affairs in and around the historical monument.

A bench comprising Justices S B Sinha, S H Kapadia and D K Jain declined the suggestion of the Supreme Court judges going on a personal visit to the 16th century monument saying it would create problems for the state administration and that they did not want any fresh controversy in the matter.

The bench, however, directed Solicitor General G E Vahanvati to visit the historical shrine in Agra and submit his report.

The Court rejected the affidavit filed by the UP Home Secretary A K Sinha which dealt only with the internal security arrangements, a responsibility of CISF, under the control of Centre.

The bench also directed Mr Sinha to file a fresh affidavit within three weeks giving details of contingency plan prepared by the state administration to deal with extraordinary rush on some occasions like Ram Baraat and Urs procession and also to provide external security to the monument.

The court also directed the monitoring commitee to visit Taj and suggest sites for setting up facilitation centre outside the monument to control and regulate the entry of visitors.

UNI