The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court has granted five weeks’ time to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to complete excavations at the disputed site in Ayodhya. The ASI has been told to submit the final report on or before August 22.The ASI had earlier moved an application, seeking three months’ time for completing the excavations and another two months for preparing the final report. No out-of-court settlement, says Muslim body KOLKATA: Muslims would not accept any out-of-court settlement of the Babri Masjid dispute between the Muslim Personal Law Board and Shankaracharya of Kanchi Peeth, Jamiat-ul-Ulema Hind state general secretary Maulana Siddiqullah Chowdhury said on Thursday. ‘‘As the dispute of the Babri Masjid is sub-judice, the Muslim community condemns any out-of-court settlement and will accept only the verdict of the Supreme Court in this regard,’’ Choudhury said. (ENS) It had also requested the court to suspend excavation work during the rainy season. However, the three-member bench said excavations would not be suspended and issued directives to the agencies concerned to make sure that proper arrangements are made for excavations during the rainy season.‘‘The excavation work should not be stopped. If it becomes inevitable to stop it, it can be halted only after the chief engineer, PWD, duly certifies that excavation is not possible under the prevailing circumstances,’’ the court observed.The director general, ASI, has also been asked to get four more archaeologists within three days. Currently, there are only seven archaeologists in the 16-member team that comprises two members from Tojo-Vikas International, the Indo-Canadian firm firm whose ground penetrating radar survey report has been made the guiding light for the excavations.‘‘The court has also directed the Commissioner, Faizabad, to ensure proper lighting arrangements and free passage of air in trenches at the site within three days. The ASI has been asked to submit its final report on or before August 22,’’ said Zafaryab Jilani, counsel for the Sunni Central Board of Waqfs (SCBW).Jilani, while arguing before the three-member bench, said yesterday that the ASI was delaying the excavations deliberately on orders from political leaders.
