SC to hear plea to declare 'Ram Sethu' national heritage site

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will post for hearing next week a plea of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy seeking direction to the Centre to declare 'Ram Sethu' as a national heritage monument. A bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana said it would hear the plea next week after Swamy mentioned the matter before it saying the bench had kept the matter for hearing on July 26 but it was not listed for hearing.

Earlier, after Swamy submitted that the issue is pending for a long time and an urgent hearing is required, the bench had listed the matter on July 26 for hearing. In his plea, Swamy urged the apex court to pass an order and direct the "Union of India along with National Monuments Authority (NMA) to declare Ram Sethu as an Ancient Monument of National Importance."

He has also urged the top court to pass an order and direct the "Union of India to engage Geological Survey of India and Archeological Survey of India to conduct a detailed survey in respect to Ram Sethu as an Ancient Monument of National Importance." Swamy said that he has already won the first round of the litigation in which the Centre accepted the existence of 'Ram Sethu' and added that the union minister concerned had called a meeting in 2017 to consider his demand to declare the Sethu as a national heritage monument but subsequently nothing happened.

Ram Sethu is a chain of limestone shoals between Pamban Island, also known as Rameswaram Island, off the south-eastern coast of Tamil Nadu, and Mannar Island, off the north-western coast of Sri Lanka.