AGRA: Hearing a plea by a group of lawyers who claim the Taj Mahal is a Shiva temple and that Hindu devotees should be allowed to worship there, a city court said the matter will be heard next on July 15.

On Wednesday, the court of senior civil judge Jaya Pathak fixed the next date of hearing after Archaeological Survey of India asked the court to give it additional time to file response against the plea.

The suit was filed on April 8 by Hari Shankar Jain, a senior advocate at Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court.

Notably, union minister for tourism Mahesh Sharma had told the Rajya Sabha last week that there is no such record of any temple having existed in place of the 17th century monument earlier.

Reacting on the ASI’s stance in court, Jain told TOI, “On one hand, ASI wants time to respond to our claims because they want to study and maybe conduct surveys, while, on the other, the minister bluntly gave unverified statement in the House. I do not understand this.”

Jain, a sympathizer of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, said, “The petition is aimed at directing the authorities to restrain any religious activity in Taj Mahal and seeks removal of all the graves from its premise.”

To buttress his claim, Jain claimed, “During 12th century, Raja Paramardi Dev had built Tejo Mahalaya , a temple palace which later came to be known as Taj Mahal.” He claimed that the temple was later inherited by Raja Maan Singh, then maharaja of Jaipur, and was managed by Raja Jai Singh in the 17th century. Shah Jahan annexed the temple later, he claimed.

“After the death of Mumtaz-ul-Zamani, eminently known as Mumtaz Mahal, Tejo Mahalaya was converted into a memorial for her. Certain portions of the complex and its surroundings were altered to bring in a few Islamic features,” the lawyer claimed.

The claim of ownership of Taj Mahal has been raised periodically by various organizations and individuals. UP minister Azam Khan in the past made statements that the 17th century monument should be handed over to the Central Waqf Board, as it is tomb of two Muslims. Later, BJP UP chief Laxmikant Bajpai claimed the ownership of Hindus for the monument, stating that it was a temple.

Experts have said it was absurd to claim that the Taj Mahal was a temple built by Rajputs since

Rajputs were worshippers of Lord Vishnu and would have built his temple and not of Shiva as claimed by Bajpai. The temple controversy was first raised by one P N Oak, who in his book, Taj Mahal: The True Story, claimed that the monument was originally a Shiva temple.

