The prohibition against boosting air traffic in the Agra region has been lifted by the three-judge Supreme Court bench, which is comprised of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Abhay S. Oka, and JB Pardiwala. The Supreme Court had put a restriction in December 2019 when granting permission to the Airport Authority of India to build an additional terminal at the Agra airport, prohibiting an increase in aviation traffic. The prohibition was put in place in order to protect the Taj Mahal monument. 

After approving an application submitted by the Airports Authority of India, a bench in the hearing on January 17 lifted the ban on further flights. The order was only recently uploaded.

The decision was made in the MC Mehta v. Union of India case, in which the court has made numerous decisions regarding environmental issues nationwide. 

Senior Advocate ADN Rao, an amicus curiae, informed the court about the AAI's appeal to modify the restriction that it would not add any extra flights to the Taj Trapezium Zone Airport, or the Agra Airport, during the hearing. 

Bench was inclined to issue the following orders:

"It is submitted that the requisite studies have been undertaken by the Airport Authority of India as well as the Indian Government and concurrence has been obtained both of the Union of India and the State Government. The Airport Authority of India proposes to invest considerable funds in extension of the airport.

It is thus, submitted that the prerequisites for grant of permission to increase the airport traffic we are satisfied and permission may be granted so that the project takes off.In view of the aforesaid while removing the interdict, it is made clear that all necessary permission including of the CEC shall be obtained for increasing the traffic.

The Taj monument and other landmarks are already being flown over by a number of aircraft, as noted by Learned Amicus. 

Additionally, the Taj Trapezium Zone's shops must be considered for rehabilitation, the Supreme Court instructed the State of Uttar Pradesh. 

The Court issued the aforementioned ruling after considering a number of interim requests made in the Taj Trapezium case regarding the preservation of the monument and the removal of nearby ground. Applications for rehabilitation were submitted together with the IAs by store owners who had previously operated their businesses inside the Taj Trapezium Zone.

ASG Senior Advocate Aishwarya Bhati appearing for the State, opposed the IAs and submitted, “This IA has become infructuous. They were asking benefits for rehabilitation under the scheme and that scheme of the government has lapsed…A new way will have to be...Let them represent before the state. These are shopkeepers. This scheme for their rehabilitation has been lapsed." 

The Bench remarked, “This is about rehabilitation. You will have to rehabilitate them. If you aren't rehabilitating them somewhere else, they will continue to be there.”

The Bench passed orders stating, “…Ld. ASG submits that so far as rehabilitation proposal is concerned, the same doesn't survive after 2016 and IA has become infructuous. It does emerge that while the environment aspect is being looked into, there may be an occasion that people in this portion should be rehabilitated elsewhere. It is for the State government to consider rehabilitation. Merely because the scheme has lapsed does not mean that the state can wash its hands off. It is for the State to consider how the rehabilitation can take place in consultation with the Urban Development Authority. This should be done within 8 weeks. Report to be submitted to this court.”

Case Title: M.C. Mehta v. UoI And Ors. 
Citation: WP(C) No. 13381/1984 PIL

Appearance of the Advocates:-

Mr. A.D.N. Rao, Sr. Advocate (A.C.)
Counsel for parties:-
Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G.
Mr. V. K. Shukla, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Rajeev Kumar Dubey, Adv.
Mr. Chandrika Prasad Mishra, Adv.
Mr. Siddharth Krishna Dwivedi, Adv.
Mr. Nitin Pavuluri, Adv.
Mr. Ashiwan Mishra, Adv.
Mr. Kamlendra Mishra, AOR
Mr. ANS Nadkarni, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Ravi Prakash Mehrotra, Sr. Adv.
Ms. Ruchira Gupta, Adv.
Ms. Nancy Shah, Adv.
Mr. Apoorv Srivastava, Adv.
Mr. Jogy Scaria, AOR
Mrs. Rachna Gupta, AOR
Mr. Nischal Kumar Neeraj, AOR
Mr. ANS Nadkarni, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Ravi Prakash Mehrotra, Sr. Adv.
Ms. Ruchira Gupta, Adv.
Ms. Nancy Shah, Adv.
Mr. Apoorv Srivastava, Adv.
Mr. Jogy Scaria, AOR
Mr. V.K. Singh, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Hitesh Kumar Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Akhileshwar Jha, Adv.
Ms. Yamini Sharma, Adv.
Ms. Niharika Dwivedi, Adv.
Ms. Shweta Sand, Adv.
Mr. Ravish Kumar Goyal, Adv.
Mr. Nitin Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Narendra Pal Sharma, Adv.
Dr. (Mrs. ) Vipin Gupta, AOR
Mrs. Rachana Joshi Issar, AOR
Mr. Prashant Kumar, AOR
Mr. Rajiv Tyagi, AOR
Mr. Ajay K. Agrawal, AOR
Mr. Shiv Prakash Pandey, AOR
Mrs. Suchitra Atul Chitale, AOR
Mr. Sudhir Kulshreshtha, AOR
Mr. P. K. Manohar, AOR
Mr. P. Parmeswaran, AOR
Mr. P. Narasimhan, AOR
Mr. Pradeep Misra, AOR
Mr. Daleep Dhyani, Adv.
Mr. Bhuwan Chandra, Adv.
Mr. Suraj Singh, Adv.
Mr. Manoj Kumar Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR
Mr. R. Bala, Sr. Adv.
Mrs. Ruchi Kohli, Adv.
Mr. T.S. Sabarish, Adv.
Mr. Saurabh Mishra, AOR
Mr. Rakesh Chander, Adv.
Ms. Priya Kaushik, Adv.
Mr. Ankur Prakash, AOR
Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G.
Mr. V. K. Shukla, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Rajeev Kumar Dubey, Adv.
Mr. Chandrika Prasad Mishra, Adv.
Mr. Siddharth Krishna Dwivedi, Adv.
Mr. Nitin Pavuluri, Adv.
Mr. Ashiwan Mishra, Adv.
Mr. Kamlendra Mishra, AOR
Mr. Gaurav Goel, AOR
M/S. Gsl Chambers, AOR
Ms. Aparna Bhat, AOR
Mr. Gaurav Agrawal, AOR
Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR
Mr. Shantanu Krishna, AOR
Mr. Abhinav Agrawal, AOR
Ms. Mayuri Raghuvanshi, AOR
Mr. Abhinav Shrivastava, AOR
Mr. Anurag Kishore, AOR
Mr. Abhishek Chaudhary, AOR
Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR
Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G.
Ms. Suhasini Sen, Adv.
Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR
Ms. S.s. Rebello, Adv.
Ms. Kannu Agarwal, Adv.
Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, Adv.
Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G.
Ms. Suhasini Sen, Adv.
Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR
Ms. S.s. Rebello, Adv.
Ms. Kannu Agarwal, Adv.
Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, Adv.
Mr. A.N.S. Nadkarni, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Ravi Prakash Mehrotra, Sr. Adv.
Dr. Manish Singhvi, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Ashok Basoya, Adv.
Mr. Sandeep Kumar Jha,Adv.
Mr. Jogy Scaria,Adv.
Mr. Abhinav Shrivastava, Adv.
Mr. Shivang Rawat, Adv.
Mr. R.P. Singh, Adv.
Mr. Rahul Gupta, Adv.
Ms. Radhika Jalan, Adv.
Mr. Siddharth Sarthi, Adv.
M/S Gsl Chamber,Adv.
Mr. Abhimanyu Mahajan, Adv.
Mr. Mayank Joshi, Adv.
Mr. Abhinav Shrivastava,Adv.
Mr. Vaibhav Agnihotri, Adv.
Ms. Niharika Ahluwalia, Adv.
Mr. Varun Agarwal, Adv.
Mr. Ankit Keira, Adv.
Ms. Supriya Juneja, Adv.
Mr. Atishi Dipankar, AOR
Mr. Amrish Kumar,Adv.
Mr. M.K. Maroria,Adv.
Mr. G.S. Makker, Adv.
Mr. Vijay Panjwani,Adv.
Mr. Kamlendra Mishra,Adv.
Mr. M.C. Dhingra, Adv.
Mr. Rakesh K. Mudgal, Adv.
Mr. Dinesh Mudgal, Adv.
Ms. Savita Kaushik, Adv.
Dr. Monika Gosain, AOR
Mr. Ajit Kumar Sinha, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Ashwarya Sinha, Adv.
Mr. Alok Kumar Singh, Adv.
Ms. Priyanaka Sinha, Adv.
Ms. Shubhi Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Aditya Malhotra, Adv.
Mr. Ankur Prakash, AOR
Mr. N.L. Ganapathi, AOR
Mr. Sidhant Garg, Adv.
M/S. Manoj Swarup And Co., AOR
Dr. Sumant Bharadwaj, Adv.
Mr. Vedant Bharadwaj, Adv.
For Ms. Mridula Ray Bharadwaj, AOR
Mrs. Surbhi Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Avinash Yadav, Adv.
Mrs. Laxmi Arvind, AOR
Mr. Anil Gaur, Adv.
Ms. Neha Singh, Adv.
Mr. Ambrish Kumar Rai, Adv.
Dr. Sunil K. Khattri, Adv.
Ms. Nalini Singh, Adv.
Mr. Badri Prasad Singh, AOR
M/S. Lawyer S Knit & Co, AOR
Mr. Katubadi Ismail, Adv.
Mr. M. R. Shamshad, AOR
Mr. Kishan Chand Jain, Adv.
Mr. Rajesh Kumar, Adv.
Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR
Mr. Lakshmi Raman Singh, AOR
Mr. Nikhil Goel, AOR
Mr. Ajit Sharma, AOR