The Supreme Court on Friday stayed any new construction or renovation at the centuries-old religious structures inside the Mehrauli Archaeological Park in the capital including the 13th Century Ashiq Allah Dargah and Chillagah of Baba Farid, the revered Sufi saint.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar was hearing a plea filed by one Zameer Ahmed Jumlana seeking protection of the religious structures inside the archaeological park from demolition.
Senior advocate Nidhesh Gupta referred to the Archeological Survey of India's (ASI) status report and said a historical monument found there was built around 700 years ago.
The CJI said people keep encroaching and putting up shops to earn money while asking the ASI to prepare a site plan to ensure no further encroachment.
Additional solicitor general K M Nataraj said, Let us find out which are built newly and which are old."
A lawyer said these monuments were not declared protected ones and, therefore, t