The Supreme Court is set to hear on Friday a plea filed by the Sambhal Shahi Jama Masjid Committee seeking a stay on a district court-ordered survey of the mosque to verify if the disputed structure was originally the Harihar temple.

The Supreme Court will hear a petition against the survey carried out at the Shahi Jama Masjid in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal on the orders of a civil judge. The mosque’s managing committee has demanded an immediate stay on the survey,

The Supreme Court is set to hear a plea challenging the November 19 order of a district court, which directed a survey of the Mughal-era mosque in Sambhal. "The hot haste in which the survey was allowed and conducted all within a day and suddenly another survey was conducted with a notice of barely six hours has given rise to widespread communal tensions and threatens the secular and democratic fabric of the nation,

The panel will be headed by Justice Devendra Kumar Arora, a retired judge of the Allahabad High Court. The other members include Amit Mohan Prasad, a retired IAS officer, and Arvind Kumar Jain, a retired IPS officer.

A lower court's order of a survey at the Mughal-era Shahi Jama Masjid of Sambhal that triggered massive violence in which four people died and many were injured, has been challenged in the Supreme Court.

The petition contends that the survey at Sambhal's Jama Masjid, ordered by a civil judge, was conducted hastily and could lead to communal tensions, jeopardizing the secular fabric of the country.

The plea has sought an ex-parte stay on the operation of the November 19 order directing a survey of a Mughal-era mosque in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal.

A management committee from Sambhal's Jama Masjid has petitioned the Supreme Court to challenge the order for a mosque survey after a local court's ruling. Tensions in the area have been high following clashes that resulted in casualties and injuries.

Amid tension, prevailing in the city in the wake of Sunday’s violence that claimed the lives of four youths, the Uttar Pradesh Police has stepped up security ahead of Friday prayers.