Mehrauli monuments

Context:

The Supreme Court directed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to abide by the Archaeological Survey of India’s (ASI) decision before taking any demolition of mehrauli monuments.

According to ASI, the Ashiq Allah Dargah is the tomb of Shaikh Shahibuddin, built in 1317 AD by Sultan Qutubuddin Mubarak Shah Khilji. 

The dargah also houses a famous Sufi landmark where Baba Farid Ganj-Shakkar, one of the founders of the Chisti Sufi order, performed his Chillah-e-Makoos — a challenging spiritual practice in which a person hangs upside down using a rope, often in a well.

Shaikh Shahibuddin, a khadim (attendant) of the renowned Sufi master Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki, is considered a saint. The tomb lies west of Ranjit Gate of the Citadel of Rai Pithoda, the fort of Prithviraj Chauhan, a centrally protected monument.

The second site, the Chillagah of Baba Sheikh Fariduddin Shakar Ganj, marks the meditation grounds of the 12th–13th century Sufi saint, chief disciple of Qutubuddin.

Baba Haji Rozbih was revered as one of the oldest saints to have visited Delhi. It is said the Sufi saint took abode in a cave just below the walls of Qila Rai Pithora in the 12th Century. 

The order assumes significance since neither site is protected under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958. 

But both fall within the 200-metre regulated zone of the Prithviraj Chauhan citadel. Under the Act, any construction, repair or renovation within this zone requires prior permission of the competent authority.