The official who headed last year’s survey team at Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque, Alok Tripathi, has retired as the Archaeological Survey of India’s (ASI) additional director general (archaeology) after turning 60. However, he will continue to serve the organisation in a different role.
Tripathi led the team of 51 surveyors who examined the historic evidence on whether the 17th-century mosque was built upon a pre-existing temple. It was based on the report by this ASI team, after an examination of architectural remains, exposed structures, artefacts, inscriptions, sculptures, and other features, that led to the conclusion that “a Hindu temple existed at the site prior to the construction of the present structure.”
Tripathi has been appointed as the ASI’s additional director general (research and training – capacity building), a position he will assume after receiving a three-month extension, pending retrospective approval from the Cabinet Appointments Committee.
Currently a professor in the history department at Assam University, Silchar, Tripathi had earlier received four extensions as ASI’s additional director general (archaeology) between July 13 and August 31, until his retirement age. On August 29, the ASI officially extended his deputation till November 30, awaiting the Cabinet committee’s formal ratification.
The committee is responsible for appointing senior officials to prominent roles within the Union government and public sector entities.
According to The Indian Express, unidentified officials from the Union culture ministry explained that Tripathi was considered eligible for the deputation since the retirement age at Assam University, Silchar, where he is employed, is 65 years, not 60. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) operates under the culture ministry’s jurisdiction.
The report also cited an April 2023 ASI advertisement stating that the post of additional director general (research and training – capacity building) comes with specific recruitment rules, which cap the maximum eligible age for candidates at 56.
ASI spokesperson Nandini Bhattacharya Sahu told the newspaper that Tripathi’s deputation was extended by the ministry.
Gyanvapi survey
In January 2024, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) released a survey report stating that a Hindu temple once stood at the site where the Gyanvapi mosque is currently located. The survey had been ordered by a Varanasi district court in July 2023 after a petition was filed by a group of Hindu litigants seeking permission to perform prayers inside the mosque compound.
The district court’s decision followed an earlier ruling by the Allahabad High Court in May 2023, which allowed a scientific survey of an oval-shaped object discovered on the mosque premises. The object had been found in May 2022 during a separate survey ordered by a Varanasi civil court.
While the Hindu petitioners claimed the object was a shivling, a symbolic representation of Lord Shiva, the mosque’s caretaker committee argued that it was actually a defunct fountainhead located in the wazu khana, or ablution tank.
According to the ASI’s report, an examination of architectural remains, exposed structures, artefacts, inscriptions, sculptures, and other features led to the conclusion that “a Hindu temple existed at the site prior to the construction of the present structure.”