Madras HC declines to stay acquisition of Veda Nilayam by TN Govt

Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's legal heir J Deepa had moved the Madras High Court, challenging the proposed acquisition of Veda Nilayam, her late aunt's Poes Garden residence, by the Tamil Nadu government to convert it into a memorial.

After enquiry of the plea filed by the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's niece, J Deepa, the Madras High Court has refused to decline the order of acquisition of Veda Nilayam by the Tamil Nadu Government.

Earlier, J Deepa had moved the Madras High Court, challenging the proposed acquisition of Veda Nilayam, her late aunt's Poes Garden residence, by the Tamil Nadu government to convert it into a memorial.

The primary grounds of her challenge were that the Land Acquisition Act, 2013,does not empower the state government to acquire private land to convert it into a memorial and that it has been done even without conducting and publishing social impact assessment, which is mandatory under the act.

Apart from this, the land acquisition officer who passed the July 22 order, was not a competent authority under the act, as it empowers only the District Collector to pass such orders, Deepa said. She further contended that the Land Acquisition Act does not provide for acquisition of movable properties in the residence like, gold,silver, jewelry and other precious items.

Hence she sought a direction from the court to the authorities to hand over the movable properties acquired from Veda Nilayam to her and grant an interim stay against the operation of the acquisition order, pending disposal of the petition.

The plea was taken up for hearing by Justice Anand Venkatesh, today, via video conferencing. The petitioner questioned the powers Chennai Corporation and TamilNadu Government to convert private property to a memorial. Petitioner Deepa also sought an interim direction to restrain the department from withdrawing the compensation deposited with the jurisdictional civil court, until the case is heard by a two-judge session.

The High Court judge upon hearing the arguments, questioned where was petitioner J Deepa residing while Jayalalithaa was alive and he refused to cancel the order of acquisition. Further, he transferred the case to a bench.

Deepa also alleged that the state government, under the guise of establishing a memorial to the late leader, has illegally taken possession of the movable and precious materials in the house.

Earlier. J Deepa had also charged the Tamil Nadu government with trying to usurp the property and other precious materials in it and went further to claim that the move to convert Veda Nilayam into a memorial, a scandal, considering the forthcoming elections, to woo the Tamil Nadu voters.