New Delhi, The Delhi Excessive Court docket has granted extra time to the Archaeological Survey of India to conduct an inspection of the Jama Masjid within the nationwide capital and file a report.
A bench comprising Justices Prathiba M Singh and Amit Sharma, whereas coping with the PILs to declare the mosque a “protected monument”, requested the ASI for the report not less than every week earlier than the following listening to on January 29, 2025.
“Let the survey/inspection as directed within the order dated October 23, 2024 be carried out and a report be filed not less than one week earlier than the following date of listening to with advance copies to all events showing within the matter,” ordered the bench on December 11.
On October 23, the court docket requested the Archaeological Survey of India together with the representatives of the Waqf board to conduct the inspection of the Jama Masjid and its neighborhood.
It additionally sought a sketch together with a desk outlining the aim for which the Jama Masjid premises had been getting used.
On December 11, nonetheless, senior advocate Anil Soni, showing for the ASI, sought extra time to finish the train. Whereas granting additional time, the bench permitted one counsel on behalf of the petitioner to accompany the staff in the course of the inspection.
The PILs filed by Suhail Ahmed Khan and Ajay Gautam in 2014 raised questions over the Jama Masjid not coming beneath the purview of the ASI.
They objected to the usage of the “Shahi Imam” title by Jama Masjid’s Imam, Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari, and the appointment of his son because the naib Imam.
In 2015, the ASI knowledgeable the court docket that former prime minister Manmohan Singh had assured the Shahi Imam that Jama Masjid wouldn’t be declared a protected monument.
In its newest affidavit, the ASI stated declaring the historic Jama Masjid a “protected monument” would have a “substantial affect” and no steps had been taken on this regard to this point.
It stated as soon as a construction was declared a protected monument, sure rules and prohibitions within the space round it could come into power.
Though the Mughal-era Jama Masjid is at the moment beneath the safety and guardianship of Delhi Waqf Board, the ASI has been enterprise its conservation and preservation work.
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