The Delhi High Court on Friday heard the matter related to Jama Masjid being declared as 'protected' monument and asked the Union Ministry of Culture and the Archaeological Survey of India the last chance to present the file related to it in the court.
The Delhi High Court asked the ministry to present the files containing the decision of the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in which it was said that the Mughal-era Jama Masjid should not be declared a protected monument. The next hearing of the case in the Delhi High Court will be in October.
During the earlier hearing, the HC had said that if the authorities fail to place the documents, which are reportedly missing, before it, action would be initiated against the officials concerned.
The court's order came after it was informed that officials are trying to trace the file that has gone missing.
"These are important documents which are in your custody and you have to keep them safely.
This is very serious and we will take action against the officials if the documents are missing," a bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Amit Sharma said.
The high court was hearing a clutch of public interest litigation (PIL) pleas seeking directions to authorities to declare the Jama Masjid a protected monument and remove all encroachments in and around it.
It was also dealing with an application, filed on March 16, 2018 by one of the petitioners, Suhail Ahmed Khan, seeking production of the file of the Ministry of Culture relating to the Jama Masjid.
The bench noted that on February 27, 2018, the court had reiterated its August 23, 2017 order, directing the ministry to produce the file wherein the decision was taken not to declare the Jama Masjid a protected monument.
It pointed out that the file was produced before it on May 21, 2018 and thereafter, the records were again directed to be produced.
