Bill to repeal Act allowing conversion of Veda Nilayam into memorial tabled

CHENNAI: The state government on Wednesday tabled a Bill in the State Assembly to repeal a 2020 Act providing for the conversion of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s Poes Garden residence into a memorial.

State Tamil Development minister M P Saminathan on Wednesday moved the Tamil Nadu Puratchi Thalaivar Dr J Jayalalithaa Memorial Foundation (Repeal) Bill to repeal the TN Puratchi Thalaivi Dr J Jayalalithaa Memorial Foundation Act 2020.

The Tamil Nadu 2020 Act provided for establishment of a foundation for making long-term arrangements for the conversion of ‘Veda Nilayam’, residence of Jayalalithaa, at Poes Garden, into a memorial for upkeep and management thereof.

The government “decided to repeal the said Tamil Nadu Act 32 of 2020” following the November 24, 2021 order of the Madras High Court, quashing the proceedings under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013.

The court ordered that the keys of Veda Nilayam be handed over to the writ petitioners and legal heirs of the late CM. Accordingly, keys of the building were handed over to the legal heirs, and the purpose for which the TN Act 32 of 2020 was enacted no longer existed and the act has become obsolete, the Bill tabled in the House read. Former AIADMK regime led by Edappadi K Palaniswami passed the 2020 Act to convert the Poes Garden residence into a memorial.