Nobody wants to take responsibility, SC pulls up Centre, UP over maintenance of Taj Mahal

The Supreme Court today directed the Attorney General for India to inform the Court as to which authority is responsible for the maintenance of the Taj Mahal..The Bench of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta pulled up the Centre and the State of Uttar Pradesh over lack of clarity as to who is responsible for the maintenance of the Taj Mahal..Justice Lokur observed that the affidavits filed by multiple authorities and bodies were not concurrent with the submissions made before the Court..“Something is said on affidavit, something else is said orally, something else is going on behind the back; Very very difficult to accept”, Justice Lokur said..The Court expressed concern over the deteriorating condition of the Taj Mahal as well as the lack of action by authorities to contain the problem. Therefore, it asked Attorney General KK Venugopal,.“I hope and pray it wont happen, but suppose UNESCO says ‘we’re withdrawing the world heritage tag’, what will you do? You don’t even have a management plan for the Taj… It is a world heritage site.”.The Court also pulled up the Uttar Pradesh government for submitting a draft of the vision document for maintenance and conservation of the Taj Mahal instead of the final document itself. Justice Lokur also noticed that this draft was prepared without any consultation or contribution from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)..Irked by this lack of coordination among various authorities and the lax approach towards this issue, Justice Lokur came down heavily on all the concerned bodies saying,.“Nobody wants to take any responsibility. Somebody has to be responsible for the Taj…Whether it is the Tourism Ministry, Pollution Control Board, ASI… Some authority!”.The Court has now directed the Attorney General to apprise the Court as to who is responsible within the Government of India and the State of Uttar Pradesh for the maintenance of the Taj Mahal by Monday, July 30..The State of Uttar Pradesh is directed to circulate a copy of its draft vision document among all the authorities and seek their comments – particularly the ASI’s – on the matter and submit the report. The case is listed for hearing next on August 28.