ASI comes under fire for shoddy functioning

It was pointed out that there was a growing practice among archaeologists of reporting to the media quot;so-called unique findsquot; even while excavations are in progress and without any contextual evaluation.

The recent the excavations at Fatehpur Sikri, one km away from the Akbar Fort, was a case in point. The ASI found remains of a Jain temple near the Fort. Committee members questioned why the recent finds at Fatehpur Sikri had neither been documented nor made available to independent scholars for study, discussion and verification. The nearby Aligarh Muslim University has the only Centre Advanced Studies in Medieval History in the country but was not involved in the excavation at any stage.

Flouting all international norms, the ASI has not published a single Indian Archaeological Review since 1994. It has not even submitted the mandatory excavation reports of at least 46 sites, including the ones at Ayodhya. It is an established practice among world archaeological establishments that an excavator publish his report within a reasonable time.

quot;The site notebook of Chief Archaeologist Dr B B Lal is untraceable. As a result, an impression was created without any scientific basis whatsoever, that the site contained a temple built before the Babri mosque,quot; member of the parliamentary group, Eduardo Faleiro said.

The Central Advisory Board of Archaeology has not met even once since 1987. The Board, chaired by the Union Minister for Human Resource Development, is the apex body on all matters concerning archaeology in India and is statutorily required to meet once a year.