Politics

ASI says it’s competent, ready for Gyanvapi survey if High Court orders

Published

5 months ago

October 31, 2022

The director general of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Monday filed a personal affidavit before the Allahabad High Court in the Gyanvapi case, submitting that the agency possessed the necessary technical competence to conduct a survey of the mosque.
In her affidavit, DG V Vidyavathi said the ASI had the expertise of working with international bodies. The court had earlier fined the ASI DG for a delay in filing the affidavit as it had ordered.

The court has given other parties to the case, including the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid committee, 10 days to file their reply and posted the matter for next hearing on November 11. It also extended the stay on the ASI survey of the masjid, ordered by a lower court, till November 30.

In a hearing in August, the HC had remarked the affidavit filed by the ASI in response to the mosque committee’s submission was “sketchy”. It then directed the DG to file a “personal affidavit” since the matter was of “national importance” with the suit pending before the trial court since 1991.
However, the DG did not file the reply within the stipulated deadline and on the following date of hearing on October 18, the court fined the official ‘10,000, while setting Monday (October 31) as the last date for filing the reply. The hearing is related to the matter wherein the mosque committee has challenged a Varanasi court’s order last year calling for ASI survey of the Gyanvapi mosque.

The ASI has submitted in the affidavit, filed through senior advocate Manoj Kumar Singh, that it functioned under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act 1958, is a competent body not only for maintenance conservation and preservation of the archaeological monuments and protected monuments but is also an expert body for conducting archaeological exploration and excavation research, having been in charge of crucial excavations such as Harappan site Dholavira and Hastinapur, among others. The body said it was “competent and capable” to conduct the exercise if the high court or any other court directed it to do so.

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Politics

‘Talk about Rajneeti, not Parineeti…’: AAP leader Raghav Chadha on dating rumours with Bollywood actress

Published

2 hours ago

March 24, 2023

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Politics

Congress top brass meets after Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification

Published

5 hours ago

March 24, 2023

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The Congress‘ top brass, including party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and former AICC chief Sonia Gandhi, met on Friday to deliberate on the party’s strategy going forward after Rahul Gandhi‘s disqualification from Lok Sabha. A meeting was already scheduled for Friday evening but after Rahul Gandhi’s conviction, top leaders assembled at 6 pm at the party headquarters with his disqualification being top of the agenda. Besides Kharge and Sonia Gandhi, Congress general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, K C Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Rajiv Shukla and Tariq Anwar, senior leaders P Chidambaram, Anand Sharma, Ambika Soni, Mukul Wasnik, Salman Khurshid and Pawan Kumar Bansal, among others, were also present at the meeting.

Sources said Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification and party’s strategy and plans for agitations were top of the agenda at the meeting.

Rahul Gandhi was on Friday disqualified from Lok Sabha following his conviction by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case, an action the party termed an attempt to “silence” his voice as it vowed to fight the battle legally and politically.

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Politics

Under PM Modi’s leadership, attempt is being made to destroy country: Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi Assembly

Published

7 hours ago

March 24, 2023

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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched an attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday and said under his leadership, an attempt is being made to destroy the country. In a speech in the Delhi Assembly, he also accused Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena of obstructing the work of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. “I want to tell BJP people that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, an attempt is being made to destroy the country. Those who want to destroy the country should be in BJP and those who want to save the country should leave BJP,” he said.

There was an uproar in the Assembly when Kejriwal spoke about the prime minister.

Referring to the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha, Kejriwal targeted the central government and said “they are scared”. Gandhi was disqualification from the Lok Sabha upon his conviction and sentencing in a criminal defamation case.

Kejriwal asked LG Saxena to work together with the government for the development of Delhi.

“I want to tell LG sahab, ‘You have come from Gujarat. You are our guest’. I don’t think he would be knowing even the names of Delhi roads. But we don’t want fights. We want to work together. What will future generations say? They were fighting. We have to take sewer connections to every household, buy new buses, improve traffic situation…let’s do it together.

“We will work with you. It is not India-Pakistan war. When CM and LG start working together, it will actually be a double engine government,” he said.

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