Madras HC dismisses AIADMK plea to convert Jayalalithaa's Veda Nilayam into memorial

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

Chennai:Madras High Court on Wednesday dismissed the plea filed by AIADMK to convert late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's Veda Nilayam residence, located at the Poes Garden locality in the city, into a memorial.

Dismissing the appeal filed by AIADMK Villupuram district secretary C Ve Shanmugam challenging the ruling of a single judge which quashed all orders passed to convert late CM's residence into a memorial, a division bench of Justices Paresh Upadhyay and Sathi Kumar Sukumara Kurup said there were a lot of procedural irregularities in the process, starting from acquisition of property.

Justice Seshasayee, in November 2020, had quashed all the orders passed by the then AIADMK government from 2017 which led to the takeover and conversion of the late CM's residence. The memorial was formally declared open in January 2021.

The bench further said that the present DMK government cannot be forced to continue with the acquisition of Veda Nilayam, as it had accepted the orders of the single judge and handed over the keys of the property to the late CM's niece J Deepa.