New Delhi: The Supreme Court has turned down a petition seeking “fact-finding” inquiry into the history of the Taj Mahal and the opening of 22 rooms on the premises of the monument and called it a “publicity interest litigation.”
A bench comprising Justice MR Shah and MM Sundresh declined to interfere with an order of the Allahabad High Court order which had rejected such a plea.
The bench said, “The high court was not in error in dismissing the petition, which was more of a publicity interest litigation.”
Hearing the plea on May 12, the high court said that the petitioner Rajneesh Singh, media in charge of the media Bharatiya Janata Party’s media unit in Ayodhya, had failed to mention which of his legal or constitutional rights were being infringed upon.
Besides, the court took the petitioner’s lawyer to task for filing the Public Interest Litigation petition in a “casual” manner. The court further said that it could issue an order in the matter under Article 226 of the Constitution. According to the article, to enforce fundamental rights, the Indian high courts are empowered to issue orders or writs to any person or authority in an area under their jurisdiction.
