Kumarimuthu's widow seeks allotment of house

Justice R Mahadevan made the observation on a petition by Punniavathi, wife of late comedian Kumarimuthu, seeking to restrain the authorities from evicting her from the house allotted to her husband, who was a Kalaimamani awardee. 

The Tamil Nadu government had allotted a house in Nandanam here to Kumarimuthu under discretionary quota in 2001, honouring his contribution as comedian, to the Tamil film industry. However, after he died in 2016, the housing and urban development department authorities had issued a notice to her seeking an explanation as to why the allotment should not be cancelled since the original allottee has died. 

Challenging it, she moved the HC which directed the department to take a decision on her representation and restrained the authorities from disturbing her possession till a final decision is made. 

On June 27 the department had passed a final order directing the petitioner to vacate the premises claiming that they were going to demolish the existing building, following which she approached the court again. The court asked the department to find out if an alternative residence could be allotted to her in the department’s housing complex in  Thirumangalam. 

The judge observed that mere granting of awards in a paper honouring persons for their contribution to an industry would not make sense, if no helping hand is extended to the family members of the honoured persons.