NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea against the Tamil Nadu government's move to build a 134-foot tall pen statue in the sea off the Chennai coast. The statue has been proposed in memory of former Chief Minister and DMK supremo M Karunanidhi.
Conceding to submissions of Senior Advocate P Wilson, a bench of Justices SK Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia dismissed the plea remarking that it is “devoid of merits” and granted the petitioner liberty to approach “concerned authorities”.
The plea by affected fishermen across the coastal areas, especially in Chennai, stated that the statue would affect their livelihoods, violate CRZ-IA, CRZ-II and CRZ-IVA and damage the ecosystem and marine life off Marina Beach.
The plea also stated that the decision was violative of articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.
“Chennai city has enough land to build the memorial across the city but erecting a monument inside the sea will impact the marina ecosystem and marine life. Also, as per the national assessment of shoreline changes along the Indian coast, published by the central department of Geosciences, more sand is accumulating on Marina Beach. It has one of the highest sand accretion and this would impact it further,” the plea stated.
Fishermen in the plea had also added that reaching the pen-shaped monument via a 360-metre long bridge over the sea would affect the sea.