The State government on Monday told the Madras High Court that necessary orders were obtained from Cabinet Ministers on December 6, 2016, a day after the death of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to bury her body at the vacant space on the eastern side of the memorial of M.G. Ramachandran on the Marina beach.
The Ministers had endorsed the decision to build a memorial for her at the same place at a cost of ₹15 crore.
The submission was made in a counter-affidavit filed before the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose. Activist “Traffic” K.R. Ramaswamy had filed a PIL to shift the memorials of former Chief Ministers C.N. Annadurai, MGR and Jayalalithaa from the Marina beach to anywhere near Gandhi Mandapam at Guindy here.
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Tamil Development and Information Secretary R. Venkatesan had filed the counter-affidavit on behalf of the Chief Secretary. Since the PIL petition had been filed on the ground that such memorials could not be built within the coastal regulation zones (CRZ), the government contended that these norms would not apply to the memorials of Annadurai and MGR since they were built before the regulations came into force in 1991.
‘Rules not violated’
In so far as Jayalalithaa’s proposed memorial was concerned, the Secretary contended that construction of a memorial was not a prohibited activity in areas classified as CRZ.
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As per a notification issued by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests on February 17, 2015, memorials could be built even in inter tidal zones classified as CRZ-IVA if such construction was carried out based on scientific studies.
Pointing out that the place where Jayalalithaa’s body had been laid to rest was classified only as CRZ-II, Mr. Venkatesan said the regulations applicable to such a zone permit construction of buildings on the landward side of an existing road or authorised structure. The burial site of Jayalalithaa is falling within the existing structure of the memorial of MGR, the officer said.
In so far as CRZ-II areas were concerned, powers had been delegated to the Greater Chennai Corporation to grant permission for construction of small buildings.
A similar power had been delegated to the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority for permitting construction work spanning up to 20,000 square metres of built up area, the counter-affidavit stated.
He contended that it was decided to build a memorial for Jayalalithaa at the site since she had introduced various schemes for the development of the poor and the oppressed. The government said that it had established 65 memorials, four auditoriums and five commemoration pillars in honour of freedom fighters, Tamil savants and leaders who included former Chief Ministers Omandur Ramasamy Reddiar, C. Rajagopalachari, K. Kamaraj and M. Bhaktavatsalam.
“The State government takes a conscious decision, with regard to establishment of memorials, taking into consideration the importance of the leaders whose contributions had uplifted the society,” the counter-affidavit added. After taking it on file, the judges adjourned hearing on the PIL petition to February 9 and asked the petitioner to file a rejoinder, if he wished to do so, in the meantime.