The Supreme Court disposed of a petition filed 20 years ago on the 17th century Mughal memorial Red Fort on Tuesday (March 25, 2025). This petition was filed requesting the renovation and protection of the Red Fort. The court on Tuesday disposed of the petition, saying that its expert committee had complied with most of the instructions.
Justice Suryakant and Justice N. A bench of Kotishwar Singh was hearing the petition of Rajiv Sethi. Rajiv Sethi filed a petition in the year 2003 claiming that the Red Fort was not protected as per the international standard.
The Supreme Court said that on August 6, 2004, it formed a nine -member committee, including the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The bench said, “20 years have passed since then and we have no reason to believe that the expert committee has not followed the court's instructions … (but) if nothing has been done or has been left, the petitioner has the freedom to knock the court with the new petition.”
The court informed Rajiv Sethi's lawyer Bina Madhavan that there is no justification for keeping the petition active after more than two decades of public interest litigation has passed and after adequate compliance with the instructions issued.
The Supreme Court said that in August 2004 it not only formed an expert committee, but also issued extensive instructions for the preservation of the memorial. Also, in the year 2003, Senior Advocate Harish Savalve was appointed as Justice. He was given the command to help the court and to inspect the work of renovation.
The court at that time directed Harish Salve to visit the Red Fort with the then Solicitor General Kirit Rawal and the petitioner's counsel Kapil Sibal and present a report.
Also read:-
Justice Yashwant Varma Case: What was the heap of notes where it was found from that room? The inquiry committee was at Justice Verma's house for 45 minutes, now preparations to meet these people
