With the State Government yet to reveal its position on the Veda Nilayam case, the AIADMK is planning to go on appeal as a “third party”, challenging the Madras High Court’s recent judgment of quashing the acquisition by the Government of the Poes Garden residence of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, for its conversion into a memorial.
Asked about the party’s locus standi to challenge the High Court’s verdict in the light of AIADMK co-coordinator Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s statement, former Law Minister and a member of the party’s legal advisory committee C.Ve. Shanmugam said on Tuesday: “We can appeal against the judgment as a third party with the leave of the court.”
[In July 2020, when the AIADMK was in power, the Government officially acquired the Veda Nilayam for turning it into a memorial].
Elaborating, Mr. Shanmugam said the party had reasons to feel aggrieved over the High Court’s decision. “As far as we [members of the AIADMK] are concerned, Amma [Jayalalithaa] is a highly revered leader, whose memory has to be perpetuated. It was in this context that the move to convert her residence, Veda Nilayam, into a memorial was made. There is a subtle difference between the Amma Samadhi [Jayalalithaa’s mausoleum on the Marina] and the proposed memorial, which would, by being maintained as it was earlier, serve the purpose of educating people about the greatness of the leader, by providing access to the place where she lived,” he said. He said memorial houses were being run by the government for former Chief Ministers K. Kamaraj and C.N. Annadurai, in addition to mausoleums for them.
Mr. Shanmugam, also a nominated member of the Tamil Nadu Puratchi Thalaivi Dr. J Jayalalithaa Memorial Foundation, said: “We are not inclined to take chances in this matter, as the present Government is being headed by the DMK, which is our main adversary. We are also not aware of what decision they [the Government] will take”
Executive meet
The AIADMK’s executive, which will meet on Wednesday, is expected to discuss the implications of the High Court’s judgment, and take a call on the next course of action on the case.
It is also learnt that the State Government has got time till mid-December for taking a decision on the matter.
