A public interest litigation (PIL) petition has been filed in the Madras High Court Bench here seeking a direction to the Central and State governments to nationalise the assets of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and appoint a retired High Court judge to administer the properties.
Tamil Nadu Centre for Public Interest Litigation, a non-governmental organisation based here, had filed the case on the ground that Ms. Jayalalithaa, who died in Chennai on December 5, “did not leave behind any direct legal heirs and used to assert often in public meetings that she was by the people and for the people.”
Listing out her properties, the petitioner-organisation said that all her properties should be taken over by the State government and the income derived from them should be utilised for people’s welfare.
The case is expected to be listed for hearing before a Division Bench of Justices A. Selvam and P. Kalaiyarasan on Thursday.
In his affidavit, NGO’s Managing Trustee K.K. Ramesh traced the life history of the former Chief Minister ever since she was born at Mandya district in Karnataka on February 24, 1948 and claimed that she had earned several crores of rupees during her stint as a film actor before entering politics and assuming the office of Chief Minister.
Further, stating that her mentor M.G. Ramachandran had left behind a will bequeathing most of his properties for philanthropic activities and her political rival M. Karunanidhi too had declared that his house would be converted into a hospital after his death, the petitioner said that it would be in the fitness of things to use her properties also for public cause.
Claiming to have made a representation in this regard to the Central and State governments on December 15, Mr. Ramesh sought a direction to Principal Secretary to Prime Minister and Chief Secretary to the State government to first ascertain the value of Ms. Jayalalithaa’s properties by appointing a commission headed by a retired High Court judge.
