Allahabad HC dismisses BJP member's PIL on 'Tejo Mahalaya'

The Allahabad high court on Thursday dismissed a PIL by a BJP member who wanted a 'fact-finding' committee to 'uncover' the 'real history' of Taj Mahal. The PIL had also called for 'opening 22 locked rooms' in the mausoleum. Petitioner Rajneesh Singh failed to identify which of his legal or constitutional rights was infringed which prompted him to raise such a demand and call for issuing of a writ of mandamus, the HC said.

The court also said the 'information' sought by the petitioner, BJP's media in-charge of Ayodhya, did not fall under the Right to Information Act. The BJP office-bearer had made a "mockery of the PIL system", the court said while admonishing him for the petition.

Singh's plea had also contended that groups have claimed that the Taj Mahal was actually an 'old Shiva temple' known as 'Tejo Mahalaya', and that 'this fact' was also 'supported' by 'many historians'. There was a petition filed in a court in Agra in 2015, which sought Hindus be allowed access premises of Taj Mahal for worship as the 16th century monument was 'originally a Shiv temple called Tejo Mahalaya'.