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Allahabad high court stays survey in Gyanvapi complex till verdict on August 3
Allahabad HC reserves verdict on plea against ASI survey to determine if Gyanvapi mosque was built on a temple. Stay on survey continues until August 3.
The Allahabad high court on Thursday reserved verdict on a plea against a Varanasi district court order directing the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a survey to determine if the Gyanvapi mosque was built upon a temple. The stay on the ASI survey will continue till August 3, the day court will deliver its verdict on the plea against the controversial survey ordered by the district court.
The court Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker resumed the hearing today on the plea by Anjuman Intezamia Masjid, which manages the Gyanvapi mosque.
The counsel for the mosque committee, SFA Naqvi, submitted that the issue regarding the maintainability of the suit filed by five plaintiffs was pending before the Supreme Court. Naqvi said neither the trust nor incharge of the temple is raising the issue rather people from various parts of the country are filing separate suits.
“We have attached photographs of various digging equipment which ASI had when it reached the mosque premises. It shows that they had intentions of digging the spot,” Naqvi told the court.
During the hearing on Wednesday, a senior ASI official was present in the court. The official told the court that the ASI team was not going to "destroy the structure (mosque)" in any way.
Counsel for the Hindu side Vishnu Shankar Jain read the application filed for the ASI survey of the mosque and said there are various signs of the Hindu religion on the walls of the present structure. Jain submitted that there are several Hindu artefacts inside the mosque as well as on the western wall over which the structure is constructed.
He said Mughal emperor Aurangzeb did not raise new constructions while demolishing the temple and rather Muslims raised a superstructure on the remains of the old temple.
During the hearing in the morning session on Wednesday, Chief Justice Diwaker asked the additional solicitor general of India to call any expert member of ASI from Varanasi to demonstrate to the court how the survey will be conducted.
In pursuance to the court order, Alok Tripathi, Additional Director of ASI filed an affidavit before the court regarding the survey process.
Naqvi submitted that while passing the order on July 21, the Varanasi district court had come to the conclusion that in the absence of a survey report, the issue cannot be decided but the court did not discuss the materials before it came to such a conclusion.
Naqvi also raised an objection that the ASI was not made party to the suit and still it was directed to conduct the survey and give its opinion in the matter.
