Official leading Gyanvapi mosque survey retires from ASI, gets another post: Report

The official who led the survey team at Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque last year retired as the additional director general (archaeology) in the Archaeological Survey of India after turning 60 years old, but will hold another post following a three-month extension, subject to retrospective ratification by the Cabinet appointments committee, The Indian Express reported.

Alok Tripathi will serve as the Archaeological Survey of India’s additional director general (research and training – capacity building), the newspaper reported. He is a professor in the history department of Assam University, Silchar.

Tripathi was earlier given four extensions as the additional director general (archaeology) between July 13 and August 31 till he turned 60.

The organisation on August 29 extended Tripathi’s deputation till November 30, subject to the retrospective ratification by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

The committee appoints senior officials to key positions in the Union government and public sector entities.

Unidentified officials in the Union culture ministry told The Indian Express that he was eligible for the deputation as the retirement age in Assam University, Silchar, where Tripathi is an employee, is 65 years and not 60 years.

The Archaeological Survey of India reports to the culture ministry.

The newspaper reported based on an April 2023 advertisement issued by the Archaeological Survey of India that the post of additional director general (research and training – capacity building) has specific recruitment rules governing it. The maximum age for a candidate to be eligible is 56.

The Archaeological Survey of India’s spokesperson Nandini Bhattacharya Sahu told The Indian Express that Tripathi’s deputation was extended by the ministry.

Gyanvapi survey

In January 2024, an Archaeological Survey of India survey report said that a Hindu temple existed at the site of the Gyanvapi mosque. The survey was ordered by a Varanasi district court in July 2023 in response to a petition by a group of Hindu litigants seeking the right to hold prayers inside the mosque compound.

The district court’s ruling came after the Allahabad High Court held in May 2023 that a scientific survey could be conducted of an oval-shaped object found on the mosque premises. The object was found in May 2022 during another survey of the mosque premises ordered by a Varanasi civil court.

The Hindu litigants claimed that the object was a shivling, a representation of the Hindu deity Shiva. However, the caretaker committee of the mosque claimed the object was a defunct fountainhead in the wazu khana, or ablution tank.

The Archaeological Survey of India has said in its report that, based on the study of the architectural remains, exposed features and artefacts, inscriptions, art and sculptures, it can be concluded that “there existed a Hindu temple prior to the construction of the existing structure”.