A Division Bench of the Madras High Court here on Thursday observed that “the grounds cited in the intelligence report [regarding the inauguration of the Mullivaikkaal Martyrs Memorial] were not sufficient enough to set aside the order of the single judge [permitting the conduct of a three-day-long event to mark the inauguration].”
The Bench, comprising Justices M. Jaichandren and S. Vaidyanathan, made the observation after perusing a sealed report presented by Advocate General A.L. Somayaji.
The Thanjavur police had filed an appeal, challenging a single judge’s order.The AG submitted before the Bench that there were complaints pending with the police against the Ulaga Tamizhar Peramaippu Trust for encroaching land belonging to two private parties, the highways department and a water channel maintained by the public works department.
ADVERTISEMENT
Citing ‘intelligence reports’ which indicated a threat, the AG submitted the sealed envelope containing a confidential report with the intelligence inputs on the alleged threat to the function. In their order, the judges directed the police to deploy adequate police force at the venue of the function to ensure safety. The organisers of the function submitted an undertaking to conduct the function in ‘a peaceful and disciplined manner.’ The judges recorded the undertaking in their order.
The Bench, however, ruled that its judgment in the case did not grant the trust ownership or recognition to posses the land, which was alleged to have been encroached upon by them. The dispute pertaining to the ownership of the land could be contested by the authorities and the private parties before an appropriate forum, the judges noted in their order.