'Get documents signed by Shah Jahan', SC says on Wakf board’s Taj ownership plea

Get documents signed by Shah Jahan the Supreme Court has said on a plea filed by the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Wakf Board which is seeking ownership over the Taj Mahal.

The board has been given a week's time to produce the documents signed by the emperor who died in 1666. The Bench sought documents which could prove that Shah Jahan had declared the Taj Mahal as Wakf property.

Who would believe that the Taj belongs to the Wakf Board? These sort of issues must not waste the time of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra said.

The Archaeological Survey of India had moved the court in appeal against a decision of the board in 2005 ordering that the Taj be registered as the board's property. There is currently a stay on that order.

When the Board argued that the emperor had executed a wakfnama in favour of the board, Justice Misra posed a few questions. How did he sign the wakfnama? He was in jail and used to view the monument while in custody. The CJI also said that the Taj and other monuments built by the Mughals were passed on to the British. "Post-independence, it was with the government of India and was managed by the ASI", the CJI also said.