Bhopal: The Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh high court on Thursday granted an extension by around two weeks to Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to complete the scientific survey of the disputed site of Bhojshala temple- Kamal Maula Mosque in Dhar district in the state.In response to the plea by the ASI seeking an extension by three-four weeks to submit its survey report, the high court directed the Central agency to complete the scientific survey of the site by July 15 and submit the report.This was the second extension of time given to the ASI by the high court to conduct the scientific survey of the 13th century monument and submit a report.The high court had earlier set an April 29 deadline for ASI to submit its report.The deadline was later extended till July two.“The ASI’s plea for extension of time to submit the report on the Bhojshala temple-Kamal Maula Mosque complex came up for hearing on Thursday.The high court granted an extension to ASI to submit its report by July 15. The next date of hearing of the case has been fixed to July 22”, the counsel for ASI Himansu Joshi told this newspaper.In its directive to ASI on March 11 this year, the high court had sought a scientific survey of the Bhojshala temple-Kamal Maula Mosque complex, observing that the nature and character of the medieval era-monument needed to be ‘demystified and freed from the shackles of confusion’.The high court’s directive was in response to a petition filed by Hindu Front for Justice seeking intervention by the court to handover the site to Hindus claiming that it was originally a temple.The ASI, which was to submit its report on July two, sought extension of time by ‘three-four weeks’ to produce the survey report since the Central agency waited for the final report from Hyderabad-based National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) which has completed the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)- Geographic Information System (GIS) survey of the site recently.The ASI had 21 years ago permitted Hindus to worship in the Vagdevi temple inside the complex on every Tuesday and the Muslims to offer ‘namaz’ on every Friday to end the running feud between them over the ownership of the site.
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