Plea against conversion of Veda Nilayam into memorial dismissed

Chennai

A division bench comprising Justice R Subbiah and Justice Krishnan Ramasamy rejected his plea to dispense with the production of the ordinance passed on May 22 taking temporary possession of the property. The bench asked him to file a fresh plea after obtaining a copy of the ordinance. It may be noted that a division bench comprising Justice Vineet Kothari and Justice R Suresh Kumar dismissed his PIL challenging the conversion of the residence into a memorial. Though the bench granted him liberty to file a fresh plea challenging the ordinance, he failed to produce the ordinance even in the fresh plea.

The PIL called Jaya’s Veda Nilayam residence as a scene of crime, pointing out that as per the Supreme Court a portion of the property was acquired during the misappropriation period (1991-96), which led to her conviction.

The Income Tax department, too, had raided the property after Jaya’s death and portions of it remained under attachment temporarily owing to the tax dues, Ramaswamy added.

He added that the decision to convert the property into a memorial evoked strong criticisms from the neighbours, with 108 of them making representations to the State against the decision during a public hearing. As the property is the subject matter of many legal and quasi legal proceedings, including a probe by a commission of inquiry by a former High Court judge into Jaya’s death, the government cannot convert the residence into a memorial by spending public money, the social activist argued.