New Delhi, July 16: The media today got a pat on the back from the Supreme Court for reporting extensively on the illegal manner in which the work of multi-crore Taj heritage corridor project was carried out at Agra without statutory clearances violating even orders of the apex court. A bench comprising Justice M B Shah and Justice A R Lakshmanan, while ordering CBI probe into irregularities and illegalities of the project work, said it was on the basis of media reports that the central government officials woke up and stopped the work that could have endangered the world heritage 17th century Mughal monument Taj Mahal. "Newspaper reports drew the attention of concerned authorities," the bench said. "It appears that because of numerous reports in the newspapers, attention of various authorities was drawn to the illegalities and irregularities that was going on," it said.
"Thereafter, the Union government intervened in the said project and stopped further construction," the bench said taking note of the efforts made by Union Tourism and Culture Minister Jagmohan.
Jagmohan went personally to the site of construction of the heritage corridor and held detailed meeting with the chief secretary of the state government before ordering stoppage of work. Bureau Report