The Supreme Court will take up on March 9 Bharatiya Janata Party MP Subramanian Swamy’s petition seeking national heritage status for the Ram Setu, a chain of limestone shoals extending between Rameswaram Island off the Tamil Nadu coast and Mannar Island off the Sri Lankan coast.
During the mentioning hours on Wednesday, Swamy informed Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana that his plea had been pending for long and that it be heard without any further delay.
The CJI sought to know if the central government had spelled out its stance on the issue. Swamy informed the bench that the Center had filed an affidavit in the past.
The court then agreed to take it the matter on March 9.
Swamy had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) against the Centre’s Sethusamudram Canal project, initiated during the tenure of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA-1). The project envisaged creation of an 83 km-long deep water channel, linking Mannar with Palk Strait, by dredging and removing the limestone shoals that formed part of the ‘Ram Setu’.
The SC had stayed the work on the project in 2007.
In March 2018, the Union Shipping Ministry in an affidavit told the court that the government “does not want to implement the proposed alignment considering its “socio-economic disadvantages”.
The affidavit added that “the government intends to explore an alternative to the earlier alignment of Sethusamudram Ship Channel project “without affecting or damaging the Adam’s bridge/Ram Setu in the interest of the nation.”
,