Court rejects petition to change survey head
A local court on Thursday rejected a plea to replace the advocate commissioner it had appointed for conducting a videography survey of the Gyanvapi-Shringar Gauri complex here and ordered the completion of the task by May 17.
The district court also appointed two more lawyers to help the advocate commissioner carry out the survey at the mosque, which is located close to the iconic Kashi Vishwanath temple. It ordered police to register FIRs if there are attempts to scuttle the exercise.
The court of civil judge (senior division) Ravi Kumar Diwakar pronounced the order a day after hearing in the petition seeking the removal of court-appointed advocate commissioner entrusted with carrying out the survey had concluded.
Anzuman Intezamia Masajid Committee, which manages Gyanvapi Mosque, on May 7 filed the petition to remove the advocate commissioner Ajai Kumar Mishra, alleging partiality on his part.
“The court has ordered complete survey of Gyanvapi complex and its basement and present a detailed report on May 17, the next date of hearing in the case,” Subhash Nandan Chaturvedi, one of the lawyers of the petitioners said.
The court has ordered the district administration not to delay the survey by making an excuse, said Chaturvedi.
The court was hearing a plea by a group of women to allow daily worship of Hindu deities whose idols are located on an outer wall of the mosque.
The mosque management committee had opposed filming inside the mosque. Amid the opposition, the survey was stalled for a while.
The court also dismissed objections to the opening of the two closed basements in the mosque complex for the survey, according to the counsel representing the Hindu petitioners. The judge rejected the application for replacing advocate commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra and also appointed Vishal Singh as special advocate commissioner and Ajay Pratap Singh as assistant advocate commissioner.
The court said Mishra and Vishal Singh will together complete the survey.
In the absence of any one of them, the other will carry out the task, the judge said. The counsel for the Hindu side, Madan Mohan Yadav, said the court also clarified that the videography will be done inside the Gyanvapi masjid.
The mosque management had said there are locks preventing access to the two basements. The court made it clear that in case the keys are not available, the locks should be broken to get the survey done.
The court has also directed the district magistrate and the police commissioner to monitor the exercise and lodge an FIR if anyone created hurdles in the survey, according to Mohan Yadav.
The court ordered that advocate commissioner Ajai Kumar Mishra and the special advocate commissioner Vishal Singh will jointly conduct the proceedings of the commission that is survey.