The Supreme Court on Monday ordered that a Varanasi court’s direction allowing an extensive survey of the Gyanvapi mosque by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will not be enforced till 5 p.m. on Wednesday, saying that “some breathing time” should be given to the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee for appeal.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Of India D. Y. Chandrachud and Justices J. B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra permitted the mosque management committee to move the Allahabad High Court to challenge the order passed by the Varanasi District Court.
The apex court passed the above direction after noting that the order of the district court was pronounced at 4.30 p.m. on July 21.
An ASI team had reached the mosque to carry on the survey on Monday. In April The Allahabad High Court (HC) slammed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Director General (DG), V. Vidyavathi for her failure to file a reply, giving an opinion as to whether a safe evaluation of the age of the Shivling-like structure, purportedly found inside the Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi in May last year, can be done or not.
Justice Arvind Kumar Mishra was hearing a revision petition filed by Laxmi Devi and three others, who challenged the Varanasi court’s order of October 14, 2022.
They had sought an HC direction from the ASI to conduct a scientific probe of the Shivling-like structure through carbon dating and ground penetrating radar (GPR).
(This story is sourced from a third-party syndicated feed. Raavi Media takes no responsibility or liability of any nature. Raavi Media management/ythisnews.com can alter or delete the content without notice for any reason.)
