Supreme Court to hear plea seeking to declare Ram Sethu a national heritage monument on July 26

Ram Sethu, also known as Adam's bridge, is a chain of limestone shoals between Pamban Island, off the coast of Tamil Nadu, and Sri Lanka's Mannar Island

The Supreme Court on Wednesday 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.

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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” needed to be listed for hearing.

On a lighter note, the CJI told Swamy that let it be listed “after my retirement”.

The CJI then listed it for July 26.

The BJP leader had submitted that he had already won the first round of the litigation in which the Centre accepted the existence of Ram Sethu.

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He further said the Union minister concerned had called a meeting in 2017 to consider his demand but nothing happened subsequently.

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.