Madras HC declares Jayalalithaa's niece Deepa Jayakumar, nephew Deepak as legal heirs of former Tamil Nadu CM

Chennai: The Madras High Court verdict declaring herself and her brother as the legal heirs of late chief minister J Jayalalithaa was a "landmark" one, the former AIADMK supremo's niece J Deepa said on Wednesday.

It will "speak for everybody" in the country, Deepa, one of the petitioners in the case, said.

Allowing the petition by Deepa and her brother J Deepak, seeking letters of administration to administer the late Jayalalithaa's properties, a high court bench earlier in the day said "Deepak and Deepa are second class legal heirs of the late chief minister, being the son and daughter of her late brother Jayakumar."

Responding to it, Deepa said: "This judgement is so strong that it is going to stand. It is a landmark judgement, not just for us... such injustice should not happen to any citizen of India... this judgement will speak for everybody."

Deepa told reporters that the court has upheld her and Deepak as the legal heirs and therefore it will be applicable to all of the late leader's properties, including estates, even as it was "established" that there was no written will by Jayalalithaa bequeathing them to someone else.

"We have a duty to protect all of her properties," Deepa added.

Besides declaring the siblings as legal heirs to the late chief minister's multi-crore properties, the court had also asked the Tamil Nadu government to reconsider its decision to convert Jayalalithaa's upmarket Poes Garden residence in Chennai into a memorial.

To a question, Deepa said the government "naturally" might go for an appeal, but said the judgement was 'strong'.

Deepa said she and her brother were "together in this thing".