‘Veda Nilayam’ is now a memorial for Jayalalithaa

Members of the general public were not allowed at the function in view of directions from the Madras High Court

January 28, 2021 01:17 pm | Updated January 29, 2021 01:23 am IST - CHENNAI

The memorial was inaugurated at the residence of former CM Jayalalithaa, Veda Nilayam

The memorial was inaugurated at the residence of former CM Jayalalithaa, Veda Nilayam

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Thursday inaugurated the memorial established by the Tamil Nadu government at former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s residence ‘Veda Nilayam’ in Poes Garden in Chennai. The Madras High Court had, on Wednesday evening, said that the keys of the entire premises should be handed over to its Registrar General after the ceremony.

Assembly Speaker P. Dhanapal, Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and members of the State Cabinet, Chief Secretary K. Shanmugam and senior officials were also present.

The function remained a low-key event in view of the Madras High Court's direction on Wednesday evening that the general public were not to be allowed inside the Veda Nilayam premises in view of litigation pending before the court. “Only main gates to the bungalow should be opened and the participants should access only the garden,” the HC had said.

The function lasted only for a few minutes in Veda Nilayam, which was once considered the nerve centre of the AIADMK when Jayalalithaa was alive. It was from this residence that she was rushed to a private hospital on the night of September 22, 2016, where she died on December 5, 2016.

Several hundred AIADMK party men and Jayalalithaa’s admirers were disappointed after they were stopped from entering her Poes Garden residence in view of the HC directions.

Jayalalithaa’s legal heirs J. Deepa and J. Deepak (her niece and nephew respectively) had objected to the inaugural on the grounds that the inventory of the articles inside the bungalow was not taken in their presence. The interim orders by the High Court were passed on writ petitions filed by them challenging the acquisition proceedings.

A single judge of the Madras High Court had ordered that only a limited number of participants should participate in the inaugural ceremony on Thursday morning without causing much disturbance to the local residents. He had also directed that no flex boards or other publicity materials were to be displayed near the venue.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.