Janata Party President Subramaniam Swamy moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday for quashing the “Committee of Eminent Persons” constituted by the Centre to examine the status of ‘Ram Sethu’ relating to the Sethusamudram project. Alleging that several members in the present panel have a biased view on the issue, Swamy said that such a body cannot be trusted to give an objective assessment. In his interlocutory application filed on the matter, Swamy submitted that the committee constituted on October 5 by the Centre lacks experts who can properly examine the issue.Claiming that neither a single archaeologist of repute nor a conservationist nor a scientist from organisations such as the National Institute of Ocean Technology or the Geological Survey of India, who could give a balanced view on the subject, has been included in the committee, Swamy urged the Court to quash it and direct setting up of a new committee in its place.Swamy alleged that the Chairman of the Committee, S Ramachandran, and its members like M Saktivel, Dilip K Biswas, J R B Alfred, S R Wate and R C Sharma have strong views for continuing with the project at the cost of destruction to the ‘Ram Sethu’.The UPA Government had withdrawn its affidavit in the SC, which disputed the existence and Lord Ram, following widespread opposition.
