A team of three members of the Archaeological Survey of India and the mutawalis of Sambhal’s Shahi Jama Masjid visited the shrine on Thursday afternoon to survey whether there was any need for painting the structure.

The team is to submit a report to Allahabad High Court on Friday morning. Justice Rohit Ranjan Agrawal gave the order on Thursday on the plea of the mosque committee, which had filed a petition to set aside the decision of the ASI to prevent them from cleaning, painting and white-washing the structure. They had stated that cleaning and painting were required before the Ramazan month starting March 1.

Four persons died in firing last November when an ASI team reached the mosque on court orders for a survey to find out whether the structure was built by demolishing a temple during the rule of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.

Hari Shanker Jain, who represented the Hindu petitioners, had appealed to the high court to prevent any painting, saying that the mosque committee could “tamper with the artefact signs and symbols of the temple if it was allowed to colour the walls”.

Mosque counsel S.F.A. Naqvi told the high court the ASI and the mosque management committee had agreed on January 13, 1927, that repair work could be done. The cost is to be borne by the endowment created for such a project. There is a provision for state help if the endowment funds fall short.

The ASI argued that another clause in the agreement, which stated that mutawalis wouldn’t undertake any repair of the mosque without the prior consent of the collector, had never been followed by the mosque committee.