CHENNAI: Tamizharuvi Manian, a former Congress leader and a prominent Tamil litterateur, who recently resigned as a member from the State Planning Commission (SPC), has been asked to vacate his flat in the Tower Block residential complex on Taylors Road here by the Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB).
Manian was a member of the SPC till the end of 2008 and recently quit the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) protesting against his party’s stance on the Sri Lankan issue. Since then, he has been speaking and writing against the Congress and DMK on the Lankan tangle.
Speaking to Express, Manian described the government’s move as “political vendetta” going by the timing of the Housing Board’s direction to vacate the house.
Manian said the Chief Minister had allotted him the flat after he made a representation that he did not own a house.
He charged that the government had taken this action for his “stand against Chief Minister M Karunanidhi” on the Lankan turmoil.
The Housing Board allotted the flat in 2007 under the discretionary quota on a rental basis following the Chief Minister Karunanidhi’s recommendation.
“A notice has been served asking me to vacate the flat within 30 days,” he said, adding that the letter said that the occupant would be evicted, if the house were not vacated.
Violation of an ‘unknown clause’ stipulating renewal of agreement once in 11 months was being shown to justify the action. The copy of the papers stipulating the renewal clause was not given to him. If that is the case, is the rule being applied to all tenants?’ he wanted to know.
Manian also wondered why no reminder was given when he did not make the renewal after the first 11 months. “Why act after 28 months? Does this not show that the action is nothing, but political vendetta?” he wondered.
The act of not making renewal was not so serious an offence to necessitate cancelling the tenancy, Manian said.