Supreme Court To Hear Plea On Heritage Status For 'Ram Setu' Next Week

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 Setu' as a national heritage monument.

A bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana said it would hear the plea next week after Mr 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 Mr 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, Mr Swamy urged the top court to pass an order and direct the "Union of India along with National Monuments Authority (NMA) to declare Ram Setu 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 Setu as an Ancient Monument of National Importance."

Mr Swamy said that he has already won the first round of the litigation in which the Centre accepted the existence of 'Ram Setu' and added that the union minister concerned had called a meeting in 2017 to consider his demand to declare the Setu as a national heritage monument but subsequently nothing happened.

Ram Setu 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.

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