Appearing before a bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justices R V Raveendran and J M Panchal, Sorabjee said: “It is a long-established tradition in the country to worship the structure, which is believed to have been built by Lord Rama.’’

Any action on the structure would mean that there was interference by the state with the religious faith of the people of a particular religion, said Sorabjee urging the court to issue direction to the government to shelve the Rs 2,087 crore Sethusamudram canal project, constructed for the smooth passage of ships between India and Sri Lanka.

Justice Raveendran asked, “Hindus worship the Earth, Ganga, the Gobardhan mountain and trees, (but) that does not mean that people do not do anything with them.’’ Saying that there was no need for any argument, Sorabjee replied: “There is no need to look for any historical or scientific evidences whether Lord Rama made it or not, but that it is the faith of millions of people in this country,’’ he said. The arguments remained inconclusive and would be resumed on Wednesday.