Sharat Pradhan

Lucknow, March 18:

The Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board is out to lock horns with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) over the “ownership” of the Taj Mahal. State Urban Development and Waqf Minister Azam Khan has questioned the status of ASI as a custodian of the monument to love in Agra. ASI has been the Taj Mahal’s custodian for decades. However, Khan has fished out a document from the Mughal archives, according to which the custody of the world heritage monument should go to the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board. Khan says the creator of the Taj Mahal, Mughal emperor Shahjahan, had explicitly transferred the monument to a waqf.

“Excerpts of Shahjahan’s will were published in the emperor’s biography, Badshahnama, which clearly spells out Taj Mahal would remain in the custody of a waqf,” Khan said accusing the government of “illegally holding on to the monument”. The Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board has sent notices in this regard to the ASI. “The ASI has not cared to reply so far. Now we have fixed April 19 as the deadline. If it fails to give a reply by that date, we will be compelled to register Taj Mahal as a property of the Waqf Board,” the minister asserted. Waqf Board official Ahmad Adil agreed. “After declaring the Taj Mahal as a waqf, Shahjahan clearly stated in his will its management be entrusted to the khalife waqf (contemporary head of state) who was described as the mutawalli (trustee) of the waqf.”

Under the will’s terms, the president of India was the natural inheritor. “However, while redefining the meaning of khalife waqf, Section 5 of 1995 Waqf Act has entrusted that status to Waqf Board. The minister’s claim is absolutely valid.”