Bhopal: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has filed a plea in the Madhya Pradesh high court seeking four weeks’ time to submit its survey report on 13th century monument in Dhar district in the state, currently caught in the controversy in the wake of Hindus and Muslims laying claims over it as their respective place of worship.
The ASI which was to submit the survey report on the contentious Bhojshala temple- Kamal Maula mosque complex to the Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday has sought four more weeks to file the report, citing the ongoing study of the data compiled during the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)- Geographic Information System (GIS) survey of the site by the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Hyderabad.
“The ASI has sought four weeks’ time to submit its report (on the Bhojshala temple- Kamal Maula mosque complex) to Madhya Pradesh high court. The ASI’s plea is scheduled to come for hearing in the high court on Thursday”, ASI counsel Himansu Joshi told this newspaper on Wednesday.
The ASI while seeking more time to submit the survey report on the monument contended that the NGRI which has conducted the GPR-GIS survey of the complex has sought three weeks’ time to submit its final report.
Sources said that the NGRI has completed its survey in the site recently and started conducting study, analysis and interpretation of data of over 600 profiles of the survey at its laboratory in Hyderabad.
The ASI has however submitted to the high court that the scientific survey conducted by it in the complex is over, sources said.
The ASI started the survey of the site on March 22 on the direction of the Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh high court which sought to ascertain if a mosque was built by destroying a temple in the complex to end the long-standing row over it.
The high court’s directive came in response to a petition filed by a Hindu body.
The ASI has permitted Hindus to worship in the Vagdevi temple on every Tuesday on one side of the monument and allowed Muslims to offer namaz in the mosque on every Friday on the other side.
