LUCKNOW, India — An Indian court on Thursday ruled that officials can conduct a scientific survey to determine if a 17th-century mosque in the country’s north was built over a Hindu temple.

The Gyanvapi mosque in the holy Hindu city of Varanasi, an area Prime Minister Narendra Modi represents in India’s parliament, is one of several mosques in northern Uttar Pradesh state that some Hindus believe was built on top of demolished Hindu temples.

The dispute over land ownership had been one of India’s most heated issues between India’s 80% majority Hindu community and Muslim minority, which makes up nearly 14% of the country’s 1.4 billion people.

Vishnu Shankar Jain, an attorney representing the Hindu petitioners, said the High Court in the state on Thursday allowed the state-run Archaeological Survey of India to survey the structure without causing any damage to it.

“Scientific survey is necessary in the interest of justice,” Live Law, an online portal for Indian legal news, cited Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker as saying.

The Muslim petitioners objected to the survey saying it would damage the structure.

Khalid Rasheed, a Muslim petitioner, said the mosque committee has the option to appeal Thursday’s decision in India’s Supreme Court.

“We are hopeful that justice will be done as the mosque is 600 years old and Muslims have been praying there for long,” Rasheed told reporters.

The Archeological Survey of India began the survey last month, but the project was halted by the Supreme Court to give time for an appeal. The High Court decision was announced on Thursday.