Supreme Court to hear plea seeking declaration of 'Ram Sethu' as national heritage monument

Context

The Supreme Court recently agreed to list a plea by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy to declare the 'Ram Sethu' a national heritage monument.

About

The BJP leader had earlier raised the issue of declaring the Ram Sethu as a national monument in his public interest litigation (PIL) petition against the controversial Sethusamudram Ship Channel project, initiated by the UPA-I government.
The matter had reached the apex court, which in 2007 had stayed the work for the project on the Ram Sethu.

About Ram Sethu:

The Ram Sethu, also known as Adam's bridge, is a chain of limestone shoals between Pamban Island or Rameswaram Island, off the south-eastern coast of Tamil Nadu, and Mannar Island, off the north-western coast of Sri Lanka.
The petition was filed against the controversial Sethusamudram Ship Canal project, which will pass through the shoals on Ram Sethu.
The project had faced protests from some political parties, environmentalists and certain Hindu religious groups.
Under the project, a 83-kilometre-long deep water channel was to be created, linking Mannar with Palk Strait, by extensive dredging and removal of the limestone shoals.