Varanasi District Court Rejects An Application To Stop ASI Survey Of Gyanvapi Mosque Premises

The Varanasi district court on Thursday REJECTED an application filed by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, which manages the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi, to stop the ongoing Archaeological Survey of India’s survey of the mosque premises. The order was passed by District Judge Ajay Krishna Vishwesha on an application filed by the Anjuman Intezamia Committee wherein it had pleaded that defendants No. 2 and 5 had not deposited the expenses to be incurred in the ASI survey. Essentially, it was contended by the Mosque Committee that as provided in Rule 70 of General Rule Civil, before the commencement of the commission proceedings, the Expenses are required to be deposited in advance in the court, however the same was not done by the defendant no. 2 to 5 in the Shringar Gauri Worshipping suit 2022 (presently pending before the Varanasi Court). It was further submitted in the Anjuman committee’s plea that to date, the court has not issued a writ to ASI for conducting the survey, nor has any written or oral information been given to the defendant regarding the survey being conducted by ASI, nor has any time been fixed. In such a situation, the survey work being done by ASI is being done contrary to the procedure prescribed in the law, which is illegal, and needs to be stopped with immediate effect,” the application further submitted. However, rejecting the application, the District Court noted that the issue regarding the survey cost was raised before the Allahabad High Court, however, the same was dismissed by the HC and the said order was also upheld by the Supreme Court. “Thus, the order dated 21.07.2023 passed by this Court (for ASI survey) has been merged into the order dated 03.08.2023 passed by the Honorable High Court and the order passed in S.L.P. by the Supreme Court. And now it does not seem justified to stop the survey proceedings on the ground that the expenditure for the ASI survey was not deposited in the court or this court had not issued a writ for the survey. The order of the Hon'ble High Court dated 03.08.2023, as modified by the Hon'ble Supreme Court vide its judgment dated 04.08.2023, is binding on this Court and no change is possible,” the Court noted as it rejected the Mosque committee’s plea. It may be noted that the ASI is presently conducting a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi complex in Varanasi as per the July 21 order of the Varanasi District Judge to determine if the mosque was constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple. The said order was passed on an application moved by defendants no. 2 to 5 in the 2022 suit.

Varanasi District Court Rejects An Application To Stop ASI Survey Of Gyanvapi Mosque Premises

Sparsh Upadhyay

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