The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed an appeal challenging the Allahabad high court order directing the Archaeological Survey of India to excavate near the disputed site in Ayodhya to determine whether a temple pre-existed the Babri masjid.

A vacation bench comprising Justice R C Lahoti and Justice Brijesh Kumar while refusing permission to Naved Yar Khan to file the appeal, said the petitioner could approach the Lucknow bench of the high court and raise the issue.

The bench, after refusing permission to file the Special Leave Petition, dismissed the petition.

Khan stated that the order for excavation would prove to be a bad precedent as now anybody could demand for excavation of any religious site on the pretext that another religious structure pre-existed there.

The petitioner further stated that the order for excavation at the disputed site clearly violated the 1994 order of the Supreme Court, which had categorically directed the status quo to be maintained at the disputed site till the high court decided the rival petitions claiming ownership over the land.

PTI