Gyanvapi mosque case: SC declines stay on ASI survey says ‘there shall be no excavation'
Gyanvapi Mosque to be conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The Supreme Court was hearing a plea by the Mosque Committee who had cited a 1991 Act that mentions that all religious structures will remain as they were found in 1947 during India's Independence, to challenge the Allahabad High Court order allowing the ASI survey. The bench took note of the submissions of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ASI and the Uttar Pradesh government, that no excavation will be carried out during the survey nor any destruction caused to the structure.
The Supreme Court said that the entire process of scientific survey shall be concluded with non-invasive methodology. Supreme Court says that ASI has clarified that the entire survey would be completed without any excavation and without causing any damage to the structure. “We reiterate the direction of the High Court that there shall be no excavation," said the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court took note of the fact that neither any excavation nor any destruction to site will be caused during survey. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra asked the ASI not to take recourse to any invasive act during the survey. Meanwhile, a Varanasi court on Friday granted additional four weeks to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for completing the scientific survey on the Gyanvapi mosque that stands next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi.
The ASI had put the survey exercise on hold on July 24 as the Allahabad High Court was hearing a petition against it. The ASI resumed the survey Friday morning after a go-ahead from the HC on 3 August. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Friday resumed its
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