Delhi high court asks ASI to restore the past glory of Jantar Mantar

The Delhi high court today directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to make Jantar Mantar fully functional and restore the past glory of the national monument.

Hearing a PIL alleging that the astronomical observatory has not been maintained properly, a division Bench of chief justice Dipak Misra and justice Manmohan also directed the Central as well as the Delhi governments to render all support to the ASI.

The bench also asked petitioner Ravindra Nath Sharma to place his suggestions before ASI for consideration.

Nath alleged that ASI has failed to maintain the monument properly and the place, which was allowed for holding dharnas and rallies, has thus become dirty due to public use.

Jantar Mantar got the status of a national monument in 1948 and has always attracted architects, historians and scientists from all over the world but at present, the condition of the site has deteriorated, he said.

Nath further accused the ASI of being negligent in maintaining the astronomical observatory built in 1724. The land on which it is located comes under the jurisdiction of New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC).

The structure consists of 14 geometric devices used for measuring time, forecasting weather changes, predicting behaviour of planets and finding extraterrestrial altitude.

All these devices are fixed structures and point to a specific direction. The largest device or instrument is the Samrat Jantar.