Varanasi court gives 10 more days to ASI to submit Gyanvapi mosque survey report
Varanasi, Nov 30: The Varanasi district court on Thursday gave 10 more days to the Archaeological Survey of India to complete and submit a scientific survey report of the Gyanvapi mosque complex here.
Taking up the plea of the ASI seeking three additional weeks to submit the report, District Judge A K Vishvesh said he hoped that the ASI would not ask for more time, according to counsel for the Hindu side Madan Mohan Yadav.
The court fixed December 11 as the next date of hearing in the matter, Yadav said.
The court was hearing the ASI plea moved on Tuesday seeking three more weeks for submitting the report, saying it needed more time for the assimilation of information generated by different experts.
The ASI started the survey in the barricaded area of the Gyanvapi premises, excluding its sealed section, on August 4, following court orders to determine whether the 17th-century mosque was constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple.
The Muslim side represented by lawyer Mohammad Ikhlaq strongly objected to the request for more time and argued that the ASI is seeking time to file the report again and again without any proper reason. He also argued that there should be some end to this process of taking time again and again to file the report.
The ASI be directed to file the report positively within the time granted by the court, Ikhlaq said.
In its order, the court said it expects that within the provided time, the ASI shall positively file the report and will not seek further time.
On Wednesday, taking up the plea of the ASI, District Judge Vishvesh asked a senior ASI official from Delhi to explain the need for more time, to which the ASI counsel said that officials in Varanasi had been handling the task and would apprise the court about it.
Earlier, the district court had asked the ASI to submit the survey report of the Gyanvapi complex by November 28.
In its application, the ASI had stated that its experts are working on various types of data collected by archaeologists, surveyors and other experts, etc., and 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.
On November 2, the ASI told the court it had "completed" the survey but may take some more time to compile the report, along with the details of the equipment used in the survey work. The court then granted additional time till November 17 for submitting the document.
But its counsel again sought 15 more days due to the non-availability of the technical report and the district judge then asked it to submit its report by November 28.
The ASI is carrying out the scientific survey of the Gyanvapi premises, located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple, to determine whether the 17th-century mosque was constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple.
On October 5, the court granted four more weeks to the ASI and said the duration of the survey would not be extended beyond this. It had earlier given extensions on August 4 and September 6.
The survey had begun after the Allahabad High Court upheld the Varanasi district court order and ruled that the step was "necessary in the interest of justice" and would benefit both the Hindu and Muslim sides in the dispute.
During an earlier hearing, the mosque management committee had objected to the survey, alleging that the ASI was digging the basement and other places of the mosque complex without permission and accumulating debris on the western wall, posing a risk that the structure might collapse.
The ASI team was not authorised to survey the premises by removing debris or garbage, the mosque panel had said.
The Gyanvapi committee had also moved the Supreme Court against the high court's order. The apex court had, on August 4, refused to stay the high court's order on the ASI survey.
In its order, the bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, however, asked the ASI not to carry out any invasive act during the survey. This ruled out any excavations, which the Varanasi court had said could be conducted if necessary.
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Rajnath to top commanders: Outmaneuver adversaries with strategic surprise
Jaipur/New Delhi (PTI): Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday directed the top military commanders of the three services to integrate an "element of surprise" into modern warfare to outmaneuver India's adversaries and bolster strategic posture.
In his address at the joint commanders conference in Jaipur, Singh also described the Operation Sindoor as a testament to the "swift, precise, and joint response" of the Indian armed forces to safeguard national interests and called upon the military to remain ready to deal with any security challenges.
In their two-day deliberations, the commanders carried out a comprehensive review of the combat preparedness of the military in the wake of the evolving regional security situation.
Operation Sindoor was a demonstration of India's growing capabilities and a symbol of the nation's collective resolve and new military ethos, Singh said, a day after the first anniversary of Operation Sindoor.
He also unveiled a 'Joint Doctrine for Integrated Communication Architecture' that is aimed at strengthening doctrinal clarity, interoperability and integrated communications across the armed forces in future multidomain operations.
The joint commanders' conference, themed 'Military Capability in New Domains', brought together the top leadership of the defence ministry and the three services to deliberate on emerging security challenges and future readiness.
Comprehensive deliberations were held on future warfare, multidomain operations, technological transformation and joint capability development.
The conference witnessed extensive discussions on cognitive warfare, cyber resilience against evolving quantum and AI-enabled threats, military capability development in emerging domains, indigenous innovation and AI-enabled warfighting concepts.
It was attended by Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi, Chief of the Army Staff Gen Upendra Dwivedi, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal AP Singh and Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh among others.
In his remarks, Singh asked the commanders to remain "future-ready" by learning from the operation as well as the current global security landscape.
He underscored the need to strengthen capabilities in artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, data analytics and secure communication networks to stay prepared in the rapidly evolving geopolitical security scenario. He emphasised that future conflicts will increasingly be shaped by hybrid threats, information dominance and operations conducted simultaneously across cyber, space, electromagnetic and cognitive domains, according to an official readout.
Highlighting the transformative impact of emerging technologies, Singh stressed on the importance of ensuring integrated national preparedness across all spectrums of conflict, it said.
Singh's remarks at the conference came a day after the first anniversary of Operation Sindoor.
The defence minister appreciated the progress achieved in enhancing jointness, integration and technological adoption across the three services, the readout noted.
Singh said that jointness constitutes a pivotal dimension within the transformative changes sweeping across the global defence sector.
"Future wars will not be won solely through weaponry, but through innovative thinking and enhanced synergy," he said.
The defence minister exhorted the commanders to cultivate the "element of surprise" to remain unpredictable to the nation's adversaries and secure a strategic edge in any given situation.
He, however, urged them to remain vigilant of the element of surprise of the enemy and always stay two steps ahead.
Singh also reiterated the Narendra Modi government's commitment to enhancing the capabilities of the defence forces through state-of-the-art weapons and platforms. He added that special focus is being laid on research in niche domains.
During the conference, he released a documentary film on Operation Sindoor.
The film reaffirms the nation's and defence forces' commitment to operational preparedness and decisive national response capabilities.
Demonstrations of advanced systems and platforms developed for intelligence fusion, operational planning and information management were also showcased during the conference reflecting growing integration of cutting-edge technologies into joint operational structures, according to the defence ministry.
The discussions will contribute significantly towards shaping India's future military transformation and integrated operational preparedness, it said.
