The Madras High Court Monday ordered notice to the Tamil Nadu government on a PIL seeking to restrain the state from acquiring the Poes Garden residence of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa and converting it into a memorial using public funds.
A division bench of Justices Vineet Kothari and Anita Sumanth ordered notice on the plea moved by activist 'Traffic' K R Ramaswamy.
The petitioner contended that the state government should not be allowed to build a memorial for Jayalalithaa "who was declared a convict in the disproportionate assets case by the Supreme Court."
The recent move by the government to survey the property and complete the acquisition under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act has prompted the activist to move the court.
On August 17 last year, chief minister K Palaniswami announced that the government would convert the late leader's Veda Nilayam residence at Poes Garden into a memorial.
Following the announcement, Jayalalithaa's niece J Deepa moved the court which disposed of the plea on October 23 of that year with a direction to the state government to take a decision on her representation within four months.
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