Allow memorial on landward side: TN government

Chennai: The state government has informed Madras high court that the burial site of former chief minister late J. Jayalithaa is falling in Coastal Regulation Zone-II, where buildings shall be permitted on the landward side of the existing roads, or on the landward side of existing authorised structures.

R. Venkatesan, Secretary to government, Tamil Development and Information department stated this in his counter affidavit filed on behalf of the Chief Secretary in response to a PIL filed by Traffic Ramaswamy.

The First Bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose posted to February 16, further hearing of the case.

Ramaswamy in his PIL, sought a direction to the authorities to relocate the memorials of former chief ministers C.N. Annadurai, M.G. Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa at Marina beach to Gandhi Mandapam in Kotturpuram to protect the coastal zones of Tamil Nadu.

Venkatesan said the state government takes a conscious decision with regard to establishment of memorials, taking into consideration the importance of leaders whose contributions have led to uplifting society.

The Coast Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification was issued by the ministry of environment and forests for regulation of activities in the coastal areas.

The memorials namely Perarignar Anna samadhi and MGR samadhi at Marina beach were constructed prior to the promulgamation of CRZ notification 1991 and as such there was no violation under CRZ notification on the construction of the said samadhis, he added.

As per the amendment issued in notification dated February 17, 2015, construction of memorials (based on scientific studies) even in inter-tidal zone was a permissible activity. However, the burial site of chief minister Jayalalithaa falls in CRZ-II.

Further, buildings were permitted on the landward side of the existing and proposed roads or existing structures shall be subject to the existing local town and country planning regulations as modified from time to time, except the floor space index or floor area ratio, which shall be as per 1991 level.

“The burial site of Jayalalithaa falls within the existing structures of the memorial of late chief minister Ramachandran,” he added.