Sept. 27: Night viewing of the Taj Mahal may not be permitted during the Taj Mahotsav that celebrates 350 years of the Agra monument to love .

Indicating this, a three-judge Supreme Court bench today refused to give the Uttar Pradesh government permission to hold the cultural festival that started this evening in Agra on the banks of the Yamuna behind the Taj.

Even so, the state government said in Lucknow there was no hitch in the inauguration of the festival as it has obtained permission from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

The hurriedly-organised programme got off to a lacklustre start at 6 pm, bereft of celebrities, historians and intellectuals.

The inauguration was meant to be a joint Centre-state effort, but no minister or official from Delhi was present at the event at which the Union government was roundly criticised for its indifference. President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who was invited for the inauguration, chose to steer clear of the controversy by heading off to Dehra Dun instead.

Attended by Pakistan high commissioner Aziz Ahmed Khan and the Uzbekistan ambassador-extraordinary, the inauguration, held at Agra Fort?s Diwan-e-Aam, struggled to conjure an atmosphere of universal love and brotherhood. The cultural programme began only after 8 pm and was marked by recitals by Ghulam Ali, Shiv Kumar Sharma and Hariharan, among others.

Earlier, the Supreme Court declined to allow night viewing without getting the views of the ASI and the Union home ministry on the matter.

A bench of Justices Ruma Pal, S.B. Sinha and S.H. Kapadia said here: ?We cannot permit you to hold it (the mahotsav) without getting the views of the ASI and security agencies under the home ministry.?

The judges said the Uttar Pradesh government?s petition seeking permission for the festival was ?vague? and directed it to be amended to include the ASI, the home ministry and the Taj Trapezium Pollution Authority as respondents. The matter was posted for further hearing next Monday.

Despite the apex court?s directive, state culture minister Kokab Hamid had said: ?The inauguration of the Taj Mahotsav at the Agra Fort today is being organised after obtaining permission from the ASI and there is no problem in going ahead with it.?