Gyanvapi case: ASI files plea, seeks 15 more days time to submit survey report
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) seeks 15 more days to submit its report on survey of Gyanvapi mosque
VARANASI: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Friday filed an application in the Varanasi district court, seeking 15 more days to submit its report on the scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque. The court will hear the plea on Saturday.
The ASI told the court on November 2 that it has completed the survey of the mosque that is located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi. The court had set November 17 as the deadline for the survey report.
In its application, ASI said that it needed time to finalise the findings of the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey, one of the techniques used in the exercise.
“....The report of the survey is near about to complete. Only preparation of the report (of the survey) conducted by GPR is under process. It will take some more time for completion and submission of the survey report,” the application said.
Government counsel Amit Srivastava, who filed the application on behalf of ASI, said: “We filed the application, urging the court to grant 15 more days for the completion and submission of the report.”
Akhlaque Ahmad, counsel for the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee that manages the Gyanvapi mosque, said it will study the ASI application and decide further course of action.
The religious dispute – similar to the one in Ayodhya – is decades old and first reached the courts in 1991 when local Hindu priests sought permission to worship in the mosque area. The hearing was later suspended by the Allahabad high court.
On July 21, the Varanasi district court ordered an extensive survey of the mosque by ASI to ascertain whether it was built over a pre-existing temple. On July 24, even as the survey was going on, the apex court halted the exercise till 5 pm on July 26, noting that “some breathing time” needed to be granted to the mosque committee to appeal the order of the district court in the high court.
The survey restarted on August 4 under tight security after the Allahabad high court upheld the district court order. The district court granted ASI an additional month to complete the survey, extending its original deadline (from August 4) to September 4. It provided another four-week extension for the survey work on September 6. On October 5, the court granted four more weeks to the ASI and said the duration of the survey would not be extended beyond this.
