The top court issued the direction after a request was made by Subramanian Swamy seeking urgent hearing of his plea for directions to the Center for declaring Ram Setu as a national heritage monument.

The BJP leader had raised the issue of declaring the Ram Setu a national monument in his PIL against the controversial Sethusamudram Ship Channel project, initiated by the UPA-I government.

Ram Setu, 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 BJP leader had earlier raised the issue of declaring Ram Setu as a national monument in his PIL plea against the controversial Sethusamudram Ship Channel project, initiated by the UPA-I government. The matter reached the Supreme Court, which stayed the work for the project on Ram Setu in 2007.