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Demolitions being planned within the campus of the shrine of sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin in Delhi in the name of improving civic amenities will damage historic graves in the area and should thus be prevented, the Delhi High Court was informed on Monday.
Among the graves that would be affected are those of 13th century poet Amir Khusrau, Mughal emperor Shahjehan's daughter Jahan Ara and medieval historians Ziauddin Barani and Shama Siraj 'Arif', a public interest litigation filed in the court said.
Judges Devinder Gupta and S K Kaul said they would hear the case on September 4.
They have asked the management committee of the shrine, the chairman of the Delhi Waqf Board, the ministry of human resource development, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the Archeological Survey of India to file their replies by that date.
The management of the shrine had on August 11 decided to pull down the 'wuzukhanas', the place where pilgrims perform ablution before paying obeisance at the shrine, within the campus on the plea that the civic facilities in the area needed to be improved, the PIL said.
The modified plans included the construction of shops on the ground floor and toilets and bathrooms on the first and second floors, it added.
The PIL has been filed by Friends for Education, an organization describing itself as a platform for socially aware and educationally awakened citizens.
It had, in August 1997, secured a court order declaring the 'haveli' (residence) of Mirza Ghalib in the city's old quarters as a protected monument.
The current PIL has urged that a committee of experts be appointed to suggest methods for improving civic amenities in the area in consultation with the Urban Arts Commission, the MCD, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the ASI.
The committee should include experts from the fields of history, archeology and town planning, it said.
Indo-Asian News Service
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