The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court has appointed two observers to supervise excavations to determine whether a temple existed at the disputed site in Ayodhya or not. The two observers, both of the rank of additional district judges, are Hari Shankar Dubey and M.A. Siddiqui.The court also directed today that two Muslims be included in the 16-member team of the ASI that is supervising the excavations in Ayodhya and the number of labourers belonging to the minority community should also be increased.However, the HC rejected the ASI petition seeking an additional two and a half months to complete excavations, saying it was ‘‘premature’’ in the sense that the organisation still has time till April 12 to complete digging. If the ASI wanted, the HC said, it could seek more time on April 7 when it is scheduled to submit its second progress report on the excavations.The order to include Muslims in the ASI team as well as the workforce followed a petition by the Sunni Central Board of Waqfs seeking greater representation for the community and pointing out that there was only one Muslim in the ASI team while the presence of Muslim workers was almost negligible.‘‘In case there is any difficulty in getting Muslim labourers, then the Sunni Central Board of Waqfs will make necessary arrangements for the Muslim workforce,’’ the Bench said. The court also said that the ASI is competent to decide the depth to which digging is to be carried out. The ASI had earlier sought the court’s directive on the same.Meanwhile, the HC dismissed a petition moved by the oldest living plaintiff in the Babri title suit, Mohd Hashim Ansari, seeking stopping of excavation work at the disputed site.
