VISHMILLAH BEGUM Vs. STATE OF U P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioners claim through their ancestors and submit that their ancestors were proprietors and in pos session of the land lying adjacent to the tomb of Sheikh Salim Chist. THEy assert that their ancestors had received the land in issue from Moghul Emperors for (i) the upkeep and repair of the building, and (ii) the maintenance and support of descen dants, so that earnings from the land would be utilised.

(2.) THEY contend that their ancestors had succeeded in a suit recognizing such proprietary rights. The cause for filing this writ petition arose according to the petitioners when authorities and police offi cials prevented the petitioners from mining and extracting minerals near the precincts of Fatehpur Sikri. The petitioners contend that this right to mine and extract minerals is their livelihood and consequently from this earning they also maintain the upkeep and repair of the tomb of Sheikh Salim Chisti and support the descendants of their ancestors. This grant made to them, the petitioners contend cannot be interfered with.

(3.) IN the circumstances, the petitioners cannot be made an exception of excavating and mining minerals around the protected monuments as this would endanger the public monuments. INsofar as the occupa tion within the precincts of the monuments is concerned, it is to be regulated by the authority concerned. Any proprietary rights which the petitioners lay a claim upon, can not hold after the, aforesaid, Act had been enacted by the Parliament.