HC Rejects Plea to Turn Jayalalithaa Home Into Memorial

Chennai: The Madras High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition seeking a direction to Tamil Nadu government to convert the Poes Garden residence of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa into a public memorial.

Dismissing the petition filed by S Parthiban, the division bench comprising justices Huluvadi G Ramesh and R Mahadevan said, “It appears that seeking an identical relief a petition was filed before the Madurai Bench of this court and by an order dated January 12, 2017, the said petition was dismissed as not maintainable.”

“In view of the above, nothing remains to be reconsidered in the present petition. Petition is dismissed,” it said.

The petitioner submitted that Jayalalithaa was in possession of ‘Veda Nilayam’ residence in Poes Garden in Chennai.

After her demise, politicians belonging to AIADMK party were using the residence and not her legal heirs, he claimed.

Therefore, he had made a representation to the authorities concerned to convert the residence into a memorial. However, no action was taken, he said.

Recently, caretaker Chief Minister O Paneerselvam had launched a signature campaign, seeking public support to convert the residence into a memorial.

The 24,000 square feet residence in Chennai is named “Veda Nilayam” after Jayalalithaa’s mother, who was known as Sandhya in the Tamil film industry.

Hundreds of people had converged on the Poes Garden residence soon after Jayalalithaa’s death in December 5 2016, wanting to take a glimpse of the house.

Though Jayalalithaa’s mother had lived there briefly, it was largely occupied by the former Chief Minister along with Sasikala.