ASI seeks 21 more days to submit Gyanvapi mosque report

Varanasi (UP): The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Tuesday sought three more weeks from the district court here for submitting the scientific survey report of the Gyanvapi mosque complex. The court will hear the plea on Wednesday.

The district court of Varanasi had asked the ASI to submit the report on the Gyanvapi Masjid complex by November 28.

On Tuesday, the ASI sought an extension of three weeks, saying it needed 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.

'The court is therefore requested to give three more weeks to ASI to submit it,' Yadav said quoting the application of the ASI.

The court has fixed November 29 for hearing the application for a time extension, he said.

The ASI has been conducting the survey in the barricaded area of the Gyanvapi mosque premises, 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.