After missing deadline, ASI seeks more time to submit scientific survey report on Gyanvapi Mosque

The Archeological Survey of India (ASI) has sought for more time to submit its scientific report on the Gyanvapi Mosque complex. On Tuesday, ASI asked for three more weeks to conclude its report on the mosque. The district court will hear the plea on Wednesday. Earlier, the district court of Varanasi had asked ASI to submit its scientific survey by November 28. ASI said that it needs more time for the assimilation of information generated by different experts, counsel for the Hindu side Madan Mohan Yadav said. In its application, the ASI said that its experts are working on various types of data collected by archaeologists, surveyors and other experts, etc. “Assimilation of information generated by different experts and different tools is a difficult and slow process and it will take some more time to complete the report for final submission,” ASI said. “The court is therefore requested to give three more weeks to ASI to submit it,” Yadav said quoting the application of the ASI. The body has been conducting the survey inside the barricaded area of the mosque complex, excluding its sealed section, since August 4, following court orders. A plea had sought a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi premises, located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, to determine whether the 17th-century mosque was constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple. With inputs from PTI