Gyanvapi panel moves apex court against survey by ASI

New Delhi/Varanasi: Officials from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) are expected to begin their survey of the Gyanvapi Masjid premises on Friday morning between 7am and 8am, officials in Varanasi said, even as the mosque management committee’s plea in the Supreme Court for a stay on the survey is unlikely to be taken up before 10.30am, when the bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud usually assembles.

Hours after the Allahabad high court cleared the decks for the controversial survey, the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, which manages the 17th-century mosque, rushed to the apex Court, pressing for an urgent hearing. A bench, headed by CJI Chandrachud will take up the plea for an immediate stay on the survey on Friday.

In its appeal, the committee emphasised that the structure was always a mosque and remained a mosque as on August 15, 1947, and therefore, findings of the survey will be rendered nugatory in view of the Places of Worship Act. The act locks the religious nature of a structure as it existed on August 15, 1947, with the exception of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute.

“The survey would also hinder peaceful access of Muslims to the mosque in violation of the May 2022 order of the top court, directing that access and religious observance of Muslims inside the complex shall not be impeded,” the committee argued in its petition.

But by the time the petition is taken up, the survey is likely to have already commenced.

ASI sought assistance from the Varanasi district administration to resume its survey in the barricaded area of Gyanvapi, excluding a section sealed on orders from the apex court, on Friday. Officials said an ASI team reached Varanasi on Thursday night.

The survey will begin between 7am and 8am on Friday, said Subhash Nandan Chaturvedi, a counsel for the four Hindu women plaintiffs whose petition in the court asking for worshipping rights withing the mosque complex resulted in the district court ordering a survey.

The district administration got a letter from ASI additional director general Alok Tripathi on Thursday, seeking cooperation and assistance for the survey, said a senior official. “Order of the high court will be complied with. ASI has sought our (administration’s) cooperation to start the survey from tomorrow (Friday). The administration will provide whatever cooperation and help they need,” said district magistrate S Rajalingam.

ANY MORE QUOTES ON WHAT TIME SURVEY COULD BEGIN

The situation could lead to a repeat of the developments of July 24, when a 40-member team of ASI reached Varanasi and conducted the survey for four- and-a-half hours before the top court temporarily suspended it.

On July 21, the Varanasi district court had ordered an extensive survey of the mosque by ASI to ascertain whether it was built over a pre-existing temple, while holding that a scientific probe was necessary for the truth to come out. The judge, however, excluded a section – where the Hindu side claims a Shivling was found during an earlier survey and the Muslims say the structure is part of a fountain – that has remained sealed since a Supreme Court order in May 2022.

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.

“Having regard to the fact that the order of the district court was pronounced at 4.30pm on 21 July 2023 and the survey is in the process of being carried out today, we are of the view that some ‘breathing time’ must be granted to the petitioners to move the High Court for pursuing their remedies. We direct that the impugned order of the District Court shall not be enforced until 5 pm on 26 July 2023. This shall not be construed as the expression of opinion on the merits,” the top court bench comprising CJI Chandrachud, and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, had ordered.

On Thursday, the high court vacated the stay and restored the Varanasi court order.