New Delhi: The Supreme Court agreed to hear on July 26 the plea of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy seeking a direction to the Centre to declare the ‘Ram Sethu’ as a national heritage monument.
Ram Sethu, also known as Adam’s bridge, is a chain of limestone shoals between Pamban Island, off the south-eastern coast of Tamil Nadu, and Mannar Island, off the north-western coast of Sri Lanka.
A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli took note of the submissions of Swamy that it was an urgent and “small matter” that needed to be listed for hearing.
On February 23, Swamy had also mentioned the plea saying that it has not come up for hearing for the last many months and that it be not deleted from the cause list.
The BJP leader had raised the issue of declaring the Ram Sethu a national monument in his PIL against the controversial Sethusamudram Ship Channel project, initiated by the UPA-I government.
The matter reached the apex court, which in 2007 had stayed work for the project on the Ram Sethu. The Centre later said it had considered the “socioeconomic disadvantages” of the project and was willing to explore another route to the shipping channel project without damaging the Ram Sethu.
The Sethusamudram shipping channel project has been facing protests from some political parties, environmentalists, and certain Hindu religious groups. Under the project, an 83 km-long deep water channel was to be created, linking Mannar with Palk Strait, by extensive dredging and removal of limestone shoals.
