A Varanasi court on Thursday granted 10 more days to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to complete the Gyanvapi complex survey and submit its report. The court of district judge Ajaya Krishna Vishvesha passed the order on the ASI’s petition filed on November 28 seeking three weeks’ time for submitting the survey report. “The court, after considering the facts, granted 10 days more time to the ASI to file the report. This court expects the ASI to positively file the report and will not seek further time,” the judge said, according to standing government counsel Amit Srivastava, who filed the plea on behalf of the ASI. The next date of hearing is December 11. It is the sixth extension given by the court to the ASI to submit its report.
The ASI started the survey on August 4 in the barricaded area of the Gyanvapi complex following court orders to determine whether the 17th-century mosque was constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple. The Anjuman Intejamia Masjid Committee raised objections over seeking more time repeatedly for completing the survey and its report, arguing that the ASI is seeking time to file the report again and again without any proper reason. In its petition, the ASI requested more time to assimilate information generated by the team and experts.
