The Madras High Court Bench here on Thursday dismissed a public interest litigation petition seeking a direction to the Centre as well as the State Government to nationalise the assets of former chief minister Jayalalithaa and appoint a retired High Court judge to administer the properties.
A Division Bench of Justices A. Selvam and P. Kalaiyarasan dismissed the case on the ground that personal issues related to individuals could not be taken up before courts of law in the guise of public interest litigation petitions.
Referring to clear cut guidelines framed by the Supreme Court on filing of PIL petitions, the judges said that the present case would not fall under the ambit of those guidelines since the assets of Jayalalithaa were her personal properties.
Tamil Nadu Centre for Public Interest Litigation, a non-governmental organisation based here, had filed the case contending that Jayalalithaa, who died on December 5, had no direct legal heirs and she used to often assert in public meetings that she is “by the people and for the people.”
Listing out her properties, the petitioner organisation represented by its Managing Trustee K.K. Ramesh said that all her properties should be taken over by the State Government and the income from them should be utilised for the welfare of the people.
