Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the government of Uttar Pradesh, informed the Supreme Court bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta on Friday (October 27) that the parking lot set to be constructed near the Taj Mahal will no more happen.

The bench said that status quo must be maintained.

The issue being heard by the bench is basically about permission for cutting trees for widening the roads near the Taj Mahal.

The bench had earlier stated that “no one can get that land (near the Taj) without the permission of this court. There were 16,000 trees, how can you grow them again?”

When a report was asked for, the Ministry of Environment and Forests submitted that of the 142 sites in question only 67 had been inspected. The bench observed that the MoEF is taking this “very casually” and directed the Ministry to file the meaningful and detailed report related to deforestation and other issues.

Bench ordered to file the affidavit by tomorrow, and grilled the counsel, saying: “You were converting a green belt into a parking lot. When we ordered to make compensatory sites, you took it so casually.”

On Friday Mehta submitted that the government is constructing multiple-level parking places to sort out the problem of parking in the city. He said he will place the government policy before the court in two weeks.

 —India Legal Bureau