Avoids Giving National Monument Status To Geographical Feature In Palk Strait. The Centre on Thursday shied away from taking a stand in the Supreme Court on whether it intended to confer national monument status on Ram Sethu, a geographical feature in the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka resembling the mythological bridge built by Lord Rama’s army in epic Ramayana. On March 27, the court had asked the Centre to spell out its stand on Ram Sethu while hearing a five-year-old petition by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy seeking national monument status for Ram Sethu and scrapping of the Sethu Samudram shipping channel project on the ground that it involved dredging of revered mythological feature. Additional solicitor general Harin Raval informed a bench of Justices H L Dattu and A R Dave that he had received no instruction from the Centre on filing an affidavit to respond to Swamy’s petition. “I asked them (the officials concerned) in writing but they have not responded. Even today I asked them is that what you want me to say that the government does not wish to file any affidavit. But there was no answer,” the ASG said. The bench understood the law officer’s predicament and decided to proceed with the hearing of Swamy’s petition in the third week of August if there were no affidavit from either the Centre or TN. The bench told Raval: “This court cannot direct you to file a counter affidavit. It is for you to say this is our stand…for the present we will say that none of the contesting respondents intend to file any affidavit.” The ASG said he couldn’t state anything further to the SC. The bench said: “We know you have to go by instruction. You may have your reservations but you cannot take a different stand.” Those opposing project discredit Lord Rama, says Karunanidhi D MK chief M Karunanidhi on Thursday said people who are using Lord Rama’s name to stop the Sethu Samudram project were only discrediting Him (Lord Rama). Not just the Union government, but everyone interested in Tamil Nadu’s development and welfare should have only one opinion — to have the shipping canal built, he said. Declaring it a national monument is like catering to someone’s personal desire, he said. “What is wrong in completing the Sethu Samudram project and then declaring it a national monument?” he asked. Karunanidhi also said the Centre must respect the findings of the study on project and facilitate its completion. TNN