Jaya memorial: HC dismisses appeal against take over of late leader\'s residence

Chennai: A division bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday dismissed the third party appeal from the AIADMK challenging the ruling of a single judge, quashing all orders passed to convert late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's Veda Nilayam residence here to convert it into a memorial for her.

There were a lot of procedural irregularities in the process, starting from acquiring the property and converting it into a memorial, a division bench of Justices Paresh Upadhyay and Sathi Kumar Sukumara Kurup said.

In November last year, Justice N Seshasayee had set aside all the orders of the previous AIADMK government which culminated in the take over and conversion of the late CM's residence, located at the posh Poes Garden locality in the city.

The bench also endorsed the view of the single judge there was no need for a second memorial for the late leader and that there was no public interest involved in the same. It was aimed at achieving political mileage, the judges added.

The present DMK government cannot be forced to continue with the acquisition, as it had accepted the orders of the single judge and handed over the keys of the sprawling property to Jayalalithaa's niece J Deepa and nephew J Deepak, the bench added and dismissed the appeal filed by AIADMK Villupuram district secretary C Ve Shanmugam, who was the Law Minister during the previous regime.

The appeal sought to quash the orders of the single judge, after expunging all the remarks made by him. The memorial was formally declared open in January 2021.

By his orders dated November 24, Justice Seshasayee had quashed all the orders passed by the then AIADMK government from 2017 which ultimately culminated in the taking over of the property in 2020.

He had also observed there was no need for a second memorial in addition to the one on the Marina Beach. This would be a mere waste of public money. No public interest would also be serviced, he had said.