Jayalalithaa's niece and nephew to inherit assets; HC says no to making Poes Garden house a memorial
This comes a few days after Tamil Nadu governor Banwarilal Purohit promulgated an ordinance to take temporary possession of the former chief minister's residence for facilitating its conversion into a memorial.
by Dia Rekhi
CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday declared that the niece and nephew of the late former chief minister J Jayalalithaa - J Deepa and J Deepak - were Class II legal heirs entitled to inherit all her properties.
Further the court urged the state government to put Jayalalithaa's Poes Garden residence to some use than for making a memorial.
This comes a few days after Tamil Nadu governor Banwarilal Purohit promulgated an ordinance to take temporary possession of the former chief minister's residence for facilitating its conversion into a memorial.
"The Poes Garden property of the late chief minister Dr J Jayalalithaa is worth about more than Rs.100/- crores," the division bench comprising Justice N Kirubakaran and Justice Abdul Quddhose observed.
"The government as per law, has to issue a notice to the legal heirs and hear them during acquisition proceedings. The compensation payable for acquiring the properties has to be determined and the said amount has to be paid to the Legal Heir's in case of land acquisition,” the bench added.
The court also recorded the submission made by Deepa and Deepak that they shall use some properties to create a public trust named after Jayalalithaa for various welfare measures.
The High Court went on to suggest that the government use the facility as an official residence-cum-office for the chief minister rather than use it as a memorial.
“Public money cannot be wasted for the purpose of constructing a memorial. The real tribute to any leader should be paid by following his/her principles and working for the benefit of the people and development of the society. If the government intends to make the residence of the late chief minister’s residence a memorial, there will be not be any end for such proposals,” the bench stated in the order.
Further, the court recommended that if the government does convert it into a memorial, that only a portion of it should be turned into a memorial and the rest of the property can be used for the purpose of official residence cum office of the chief minister.
The court passed the orders based on an application filed by Deepak and granted him and his sister Deepa, a letter of administration for managing the assets owned by Jayalalithaa.
The petition filed by AIADMK functionaries K Pugazhenthi and P Janikaraman demanding administration of Jayalalithaa’s properties through Administrator General and Official Trustee of Tamil Nadu was dismissed by the court.