The Madras High Court has ordered notice to the State government returnable by March 20 on two separate PIL petitions moved against portraits of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in government offices and schemes.
The First Bench of Acting Chief Justice Huluvadi G. Ramesh and Justice R. Mahadevan passed the order on petitions moved by Advocates’ Forum for Social Justice represented by its president K. Balu and DMK legislator J. Anbazhagan to restrain the government from using Jayalalithaa’s pictures and building a memorial for her with public funds.
Noting that Jayalalithaa was found guilty by the Supreme Court in the disproportionate assets case, senior counsel for the DMK MLA P. Wilson said, “A person found guilty in a criminal offence and disqualified to hold constitutional posts cannot be hailed or glorified by displaying their picture in government offices and welfare schemes.”
He added that just because charges against Jayalalithaa were abated on account of her death, the government could not justify displaying her portraits in government offices.
Plea to quash G.O.
They also wanted the court to quash the government order dated June 4, 2006, and consequential letter dated January 5, 2015 in so far as it does not prohibit display of portraits and photographs of Chief Ministers who have been convicted or found guilty of corruption charges by a court of law.
