Supreme Court stays Varanasi court order till Wednesday 5pm

The Supreme Court to take up at 11.15am Gyanvapi mosque management committee’s plea against a survey of the mosque by the ASI.

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Varanasi district court order until 5 pm on July 26 allowing scientific excavation of the Gyanvapi mosque complex survey by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to ascertain whether the masjid was built over a pre-existing Hindu temple.

The court requested the Allahabad high court to ensure the matter is taken up on July 26. A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud ordered that no invasive work would be undertaken by the ASI to determine if the Gyanvapi mosque located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi was built upon a temple and agreed to hear a plea moved by the mosque committee during the day.

The bench took note of the submissions made by senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, who appeared in the court on behalf of the mosque committee, that the matter be heard urgently.

The top court asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was representing the Uttar Pradesh government, to inform the ASI team that there should not be any “invasive work” or excavation at the site.

“We will hear it (the plea) at 2 pm,” the bench said.

“Let there be a status quo for the time being. No excavation, no invasive method until we hear it,” Justice Chandrachud said.

Mehta, who was asked to come back at 11.15 am to inform about ASI’s methods of survey, told the court that not even a brick has been moved or plans to be moved for at least a week. Only photography, measurements, etc are being done.

The top court recorded Mehta’s statement that no excavation for at least a week is being mulled over.

“We are thinking of giving the mosque management committee enough time to challenge the district court’s order before the Allahabad HC. Let there be no excavation till such time. Come back and tell us what is it that ASI is doing,” the CJI had earlier on Monday asked Mehta.

The Supreme Court asked the mosque management committee to approach the Allahabad HC. The committee, however, sought a stay on the district court’s order.

On Friday, a Varanasi court directed the ASI to conduct a “detailed scientific survey” — including excavations, wherever necessary — to determine if the mosque was built at a place where a temple existed earlier.

The mosque’s “wazookhana” (a small reservoir for Muslim devotees to perform ritual ablutions), where a structure claimed by the Hindu litigants to be a “Shivling” exists, will not be part of the survey, following an earlier Supreme Court order protecting that spot in the complex.

District judge AK Vishvesh has directed the ASI to submit a report to the court by August 4, along with video clips and photographs of the survey proceedings.