A Varanasi court on Saturday fixed January 24 for deciding whether to make public the sealed Archeological Survey of India (ASI) report on the disputed Gyanvapi structure and provide copies to the parties.
The order to this effect was given by District Judge A K Vishvesh, Madan Mohan Yadav, advocate for the Hindu side, said. The counsel of the Hindu and Muslim sides and the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) were present in the court.
Earlier on Wednesday, the ASI had urged the court not to make its survey report public for at least four more weeks. Citing the December 19 judgment of the Allahabad High Court ASI counsel Amit Shrivastava had told the district court that the High Court had said in its order that, if necessary, the Civil Judge Senior Division Fast Track Court can order a survey of the Gyanvapi complex once again. Therefore, if the survey report comes into the public domain now, a situation of contradiction may arise.
Therefore, four weeks should be given to open the survey report and make it available to the parties, the ASI counsel had said.
The Allahabad High Court had on December 19 dismissed the Muslim side’s plea challenging the maintainability of a suit seeking the restoration of a temple at the disputed structure.
“The trial in this case of vital national importance should be concluded as soon as possible, preferably within six months. If required, the lower court may direct ASI for a further survey,” the High Court had observed.
