HC declines to intervene in MoU for Taj maintenance

new delhi: the delhi high court on monday declined to intervene in the centre's decision to sign a memorandum of understanding with the tata group for maintenance of the taj mahal. the court observed that the company would not get any monetary benefit from the sale of tickets to visitors. ``in view of the mou reached between the parties, it is clear that the tata group is not picking up any profit from the collection made from the entrance tickets,'' the division bench, comprising chief justice arijit passayat and justice d k jain, observed.the united communist party of india had filed a public interest litigation challenging the centres' decision to hand over the maintenance of taj mahal to indian hotels of the tata group or any other monument to private parties. the government's decision to hand over the maintenance of taj to a private party and a similar proposal with regard to red fort and other monuments was challenged on the ground that the private agencies would exploit the monuments for commercial purposes. the pil had sought the scrapping of the mou claiming that the taj and red fort alone have the potential of generating rs 100 crore annually. the petitioner had claimed that the daily income from taj was not less than rs 40 lakh, while expenditure on its maintenance was only about rs 50,000 a day. dismissing the pil, the court ruled, ``the tatas have been entrusted only with the maintenance of the monument and are permitted to put their billboards as per the rules.'' according to the mou signed on june 21, indian hotels will spend rs 1.87 crore on maintenance of the taj mahal. the company, among other things, will improve the mughal garden. the first phase of the project is scheduled to be completed within 15 months. the tata groups' counsel told the court that indian hotels has only taken the task of maintenance of taj and would not get any monetary benefit as all gate collections would go to the government's coffers. the tata group is to engage expertise and support from recognised and reputed indian and international institutes to carry out extensive studies on the taj mahal and its environs in the second phase. the ucpi had also sought direction to the government and the archaeological survey of india regarding the preservation and protection of all architecture of historical importance across the country, saying most of them were being neglected. the petitioner had cited examples of various monuments, including the 16th century maluti temples in jharkhand, bibiji ki masjid and syed usman mosque in ahmedabad, sheikh farid tomb in patan and ram-lakhan chatri in bhuj. it also drew the court's attention to the damage caused to palaces in fatehpur sikri fort during excavations carried by asi few years ago. among the other important monuments mentioned in the pil was the famous bodh gaya temple in bihar.