The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to list on July 26 a plea by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy to declare the 'Ram Sethu' a national heritage monument.
In a mentioning made before Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, Dr. Swamy said it was an important issue.
The Ram Sethu, also known as Adam's bridge, is a chain of limestone shoals between Pamban Island or Rameswaram Island, off the south-eastern coast of Tamil Nadu, and Mannar Island, off the north-western coast of Sri Lanka.
The BJP leader had earlier raised the issue of declaring the Ram Sethu as a national monument in his public interest litigation (PIL) petition against the controversial Sethusamudram Ship Channel project, initiated by the UPA-I government.
The matter had reached the apex court, which in 2007 had stayed the work for the project on the Ram Sethu.
Centre’s stand
The Centre had later said it considered the "socio-economic disadvantages" of the project and was willing to explore another route to the shipping channel project without damaging the Ram Sethu.
"That the Government of India intends to explore an alternative to the earlier alignment of the Sethusamudram Ship Channel project without affecting/damaging the Adam's Bridge/Ram Sethu in the interest of the nation," the affidavit filed by the Ministry had said.
The Sethusamudram shipping channel project has been facing protests from some political parties, environmentalists and certain Hindu religious groups.
Under the project, a 83 km-long deep water channel was to be created, linking Mannar with Palk Strait, by extensive dredging and removal of limestone shoals.
