New Delhi:
The Supreme Court today granted two weeks' time to the central government to decide whether Ram Setu will be declared as a national monument, after the Centre told the Court that it needed more time to file an affidavit on the issue. Ram Setu is revered by Hindus as the mythological bridge between India and Sri Lanka.
Janata Dal leader Subramanian Swamy, the petitioner in this case who wants Ram Setu to be declared as a national monument, today told the top court he wondered why the Centre is not taking a decision. The Supreme Court, however, granted time to the Centre and adjourned the case till April 19. The top court had directed the Centre to file an affidavit on the issue in July 2007.
The Ram Setu, was to be cut through for the Sethusamudram Canal project, but the Supreme Court had stayed the decision.
Yesterday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to Ram Setu a national monument.
"I request you to take necessary action to communicate the views of the government of India to the Supreme Court that it would take immediate steps for declaring the site as a national monument," she said in the letter.
Several cases have been filed in the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court against the Sethusamudram project that proposed to dredge the Palk Strait so that shipping is possible between the western and eastern coasts instead of circumventing Sri Lanka.