SC Adjourns Plea Seeking Directions to Declare Ram Setu as Monument of National Heritage

Supreme Court Law Insider

Debangana Ray

Published on August 23, 2022 at 23:19 IST

The Supreme Court adjourned a plea filed by Rajya Sabha MP Dr. Subramanian Swamy which sought to direct the Centre to declare the Ram Setu as a monument of national heritage.

Dr. Swamy raised the issue of declaring the Ram Setu as a national heritage monument in a plea filed by him in 2007 against the Sethusamudram Ship Channel project in order to protect the Ram Setu.

This was because, under the project, an 83 km long deep water channel was planned to be built, which sought to link Mannar with Palk Strait by removing the limestone shoals constituting the Setu.

Solicitor General of India, Mr. Tushar Mehta, adjourned the matter and stated that he would review the documents and get back.

Dr. Swamy contended that the Bench should ensure that the issue is not deleted from the list of issues of the Registry.

Further, the bench noted that Dr. Swamy is aware of the functioning of the SC, especially regarding the issue of deletion of the cases by the Registry.

Ram Setu is a bridge made up of a chain of limestone shoals off the coast of Tamil Nadu. It runs from Pamsan Island in Rameshwaram to the Mannar Island, off the northern coast of Sri Lanka.

The bridge is said to have been constituted by Lord Ram in order to rescue Sita in Lanka, present Sri Lanka.

The SC in 2020 had asked Dr. Swamy to refer the matter after 3 months, owing to the pendency of cases. The matter was mentioned multiple times before it reached the bench of Justice Chandrachud, who listed the issue for hearing.

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