Supreme Court to hear Ram Sethu PIL in Feb

New Delhi/ Chennai: The Supreme Court on Thursday said it would take up BJP leader Subramanian Swamy’s plea seeking a direction to declare the Ram Sethu a national heritage monument in the second week of February.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha said the matter was unlikely to be heard today as a Constitution bench was going on.

Swamy said the solicitor general had made a commitment to file the reply and the cabinet secretary should be summoned to the court.

“Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had said the counter will be filed by December 12. But it has not been filed yet. Earlier, they said it’s ready,” Swamy submitted.

Mehta said the matter is under consideration and discussions are underway.

He urged the court to post the matter in February first week.

The Tamil Nadu Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution urging the Centre to come forward to immediately implement the Sethusamudram ship canal project without any further delay.

The main opposition AIADMK said that the views of fishermen should be ascertained and past dredging work for the project should be analysed and if it is going to hugely benefit the people, it would support.

Pollachi V Jayaraman spoke on behalf of his party. BJP’s Nainar Nagendran said his party would welcome it if it did not cause any damage to the Ram Sethu.