Varanasi, 29 Nov: The Varanasi district court on Wednesday asked the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to explain why it needed additional time to submit a scientific survey report on the Gyanvapi complex and scheduled a hearing for Thursday.
Taking up the ASI’s request for three extra weeks to submit the report, District Judge A K Vishvesh asked a senior ASI official from Delhi to explain the need for more time, to which the ASI counsel replied that officials in Varanasi have been handling the task and will inform the court.
The Muslim side, represented by lawyer Mohammad Ikhlaq, protested repeatedly to the ASI’s request for extra time.
The ASI requested three additional weeks from the district court on Tuesday to deliver the scientific survey report on the Gyanvapi mosque complex, claiming that it required more time to assimilate material collected by various experts.
The Varanasi district court had ordered the ASI to produce a report on the Gyanvapi Masjid complex by November 28.
The ASI stated in its application that its experts are working on various types of data collected by archaeologists, surveyors, and other experts, and that assimilation of information generated by different experts and different tools is a difficult and slow process, and that it will take some time to complete the report for final submission.
