The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to examine on March 9 a plea by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy for a direction to the Centre to declare Ram Setu a national heritage monument. Swamy made an oral mention before a bench presided over by Chief Justice N V Ramana for listing his petition, saying it has been pending for long.
The court fixed his plea for hearing on March 9.
The bench also sought to know the stand of the Union government in the matter. To this, Swamy said the government had in the past filed its affidavits.
In his plea, Swamy sought direction to the Union government and the National Monument Authority to declare Ram Setu a monument of national importance.
He claimed the Centre has already accepted the existence of Ram Setu and a meeting was also convened in 2017 to consider his demand but nothing had happened afterwards.
Ram Setu, also known as Adam's Bridge, is a chain of limestone shoals between Pamban Island or Rameswaram, off the south-eastern coast of Tamil Nadu, and Mannar Island, off the north-western coast of Sri Lanka. It is believed to be the same bridge built by Lord Ram as mentioned in the 'Ramayan'.
Earlier in 2007, the UPA government had proposed a Sethusamudram project under which an 83-km-long deep water channel was to be made by extensive dredging and removal of the limestone shoals.
However, Swamy challenged the decision in the court. Subsequently, the Union government had to adopt an alternative plan to link Mannar with Palk Strait.
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(Published 23 February 2022, 08:36 IST)
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