UP govt seeks control, to stake claim to Taj

For instance, while the Supreme Court has prescribed strict environmental guidelines for any activity or celebration in and around the monument, the Archaeological Survey of India actually controls the administration of the Taj. And, the central government committees appointed by the Prime Minister to oversee the 350th year celebrations has limited the state government’s own efforts in promoting the monument.

Says state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mohammad Azam Khan, who first raised the ownership issue: ‘‘The state government does not even have the authority to run the Taj Mahal’s ticket booth. What does it say of a Chief Minister who runs the biggest state in the country?

Khan, however, says he has raised the ownership issue not to ease bureaucratic wrangles, but to protect the Taj from religious fundamentalists, pointing to the Babri Masjid demolition. Khan says that ‘‘everything around and on the Taj is ours (the states’s), including the law-enforcement authorities which protect the monument.’’ Anyway, the Waqf Board should control the Taj, he said.

The UP Waqf Board is under the chairmanship of Haji Mohammed Usman, picked by the Chief Minister, while the Survey Commissioner of the Board, Mohammed Mustafa, is a government appointee. Usman was formerly president of the youth wing of the Samajwadi Party, and Mustafa is an 1990 IAS officer from the state cadre.

Waqf Board sources say there are two reasons for their claim to the Taj. In January, the Allahabad High Court directed the Board to give its opinion on whether the Taj should be transferred to it, in response to a PIL seeking its transfer to Waqf property. Also, any property can be transferred to the Board if the owner decides. In this case, Emperor Shahjahan’s will states the property will go to the Waqf and the hakim will become the muttawali (keeper). The hakim is the Board as per the Waqf Act of 1995.

Khan says his government is keen to get the endorsement and registration of the monument under the Waqf Board as soon as possible.

He, however, says his government will eventually look into the administrative issues of the monument. ‘‘Of course, we will look into the administration and running of the Taj once the rights have been transferred to the Board. We will talk to the Centre and sort it out.’’