SC orders ban on commercial activities within 500 metres radius of Taj Mahal

A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and AS Oka told the ADA to ensure compliance with its order in relation to the 17th-century white marble mausoleum. The order of the apex court came while hearing an application seeking direction from the authorities concerned to prohibit commercial activities within the 500-metre radius of the historic mausoleum.

Agra: The Supreme Court has ordered the Agra Development Authority (ADA) to immediately stop all commercial activities within a 500-metre radius from the peripheral wall of the iconic Taj Mahal. A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and AS Oka told the ADA to ensure compliance with its order in relation to the 17th-century white marble mausoleum. The order of the apex court came while hearing an application seeking direction from the authorities concerned to prohibit commercial activities within the 500-metre radius of the historic mausoleum.

The bench took on into the submissions of senior advocate ADN Rao, who is assisting the court as an amicus curiae, that it would be in the interest of the protected monument to issue directions for barring all commercial activities near the Taj Mahal. The application was filed by a group of shop owners, who had been allotted an area outside the 500-metre radius to run their businesses.

They told the court that illegal business activities are being carried out near the Taj Mahal, which is in gross violation of the previous orders of the top court. The top court was informed that a similar order was issued in May 2000, but it is appropriate to reiterate the direction, agreed with the submissions and directed the ADA to immediately clear the 500-metre radius of the Taj Mahal of all commercial activities.

"We allow the prayer and thus prayer 'A' of IA... reads as under direct the Agra Development Authority to remove all business activities within 500 metres from the boundary/peripheral wall of the monument Taj Mahal, which shall be in tune with Article 14 of the Constitution of India," it said in its order which was uploaded on Monday.

The top court passed the order on an application by a group of shop owners, who have been allotted space outside the 500-metre radius. Counsel, representing the shop owners, submitted that at the western gate of the monument, illegal business activities are thriving, which is a violation of the court's order.