PIL In Delhi High Court Seeks Removal Of ‘Wrong Historical Facts’ On Taj Mahal’s Construction From History Books

A public interest litigation has been moved in the Delhi High Court seeking removal of allegedly “wrong historical facts” related to the construction of Taj Mahal by Shahajahan from the history books in schools and colleges.

A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela is likely to hear the matter tomorrow.

The plea has been moved by one Surjit Singh Yadav, who is the President of NGO Hindu Sena S. It is his case that there is no historical evidence of demolition of palace of Raja Man Singh and fresh construction of Taj Mahal on the same site.

The respondents in the PIL are Central Government, Archeological Survey of India, National Archives of India as well as the State of Uttar Pradesh.

Yadav has sought a direction on ASI to carryout an investigation about the age of Taj Mahal, including existence of palace of Raja Man Singh as on December 31, 1631, and to file a report before the court.

A direction is also sought on the Central Government to publish the “correct history” of Raja Man Singh’s palace, which had been renovated by Shahajhan w.e.f. 1632 to 1638, claiming that the said facts can be culled out from a book namely Padshahnama authored by Abdul Hamid Lahori and Qazwini.

Yadav claims that the source of knowledge of the facts alleged in the plea are from public records, RTI applications, websites and historical books.

“BECAUSE the people have a Right to Know about the true facts and information related to the history of construction of Taj Mahal and non-disclosure of the same or putting across incorrect facts related to Taj Mahal's construction in the public domain would deprive the people of true knowledge of the actual historical facts about the construction of Taj Mahal and this would be absolute violation of Article 21 and Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India,” the plea states.

It has been averred that ASI has given “wrong information” on its website that it took approximately 17 years to complete construction of Taj Mahal in 1648. Yadav has claimed that the Tomb of Mumtaz Mahal was nearly complete by 1638.

Therefore, the historical fact propagating 17 years period spent in making of Taj Mahal is factually incorrect, the plea states.

Title: SURJIT SINGH YADAV v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS.