SC: Hearing in February on demand to declare Ram Setu as national heritage, Subramaniam Swamy has filed PIL

The Supreme Court on Thursday said it will hear in February BJP leader Subramanian Swamy's plea seeking the declaration of Ram Setu as a national heritage. The court said that it will hear the matter in the second week of February.

A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha said that the matter cannot be taken up for urgent hearing as the hearing is currently going on in the Constitution Bench.

BJP leader Swamy said the Solicitor General has committed to replying in the matter and summons should be issued to the Cabinet Secretary. He said that SG Tushar Mehta had asked to file a counter affidavit by December 12. But the reply has not yet been filed. Earlier it was said that the government's answer is ready.

On these arguments of Swamy, Mehta said that the discussion on this demand is going on and the government is considering it. He told the court that the matter should be taken up for hearing in the first week of February.

Rama Setu is a chain of limestone cays between Pamban Island off the southeast coast of Tamil Nadu and Mannar Island off the northwest coast of Sri Lanka. It is also called Adam's bridge.

The BJP leader had said that he had won the first round of litigation, under which the central government accepted the existence of Ram Setu. He said that the Union Minister concerned had called a meeting in 2017 to consider their demand but nothing happened afterward. The BJP leader had earlier raised the issue of declaring Ram Sethu as a national monument in his PIL against the controversial Sethusamudram waterway project during the first term of the UPA government.

The matter reached the apex court, which in 2007 halted the work for the project on Ram Sethu. The Center had then said that it considered the "socio-economic damage" of the project and wanted to find another route for the waterway project without damaging the Ram Setu. The court then directed the government to file a fresh affidavit.

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