CHENNAI: The Manimandapam for matinee idol Sivaji Ganesan will be completed by October 31, 2016, the State government has stated in its schedule submitted before the Madras High Court on Thursday.
Originally, PN Srinivasan of Triplicane filed a PIL seeking the removal of the statue from the junction of Kamarajar Salai-Dr Radhakrishnan Salai on the Marina as it obstructed traffic flow. And the High Court on January 23, 2014 ordered the removal of the statue.
As there was inordinate delay in shifting the statue, P Nagarajan filed a contempt application.
When the matter came up in the first week of September this year, the second bench of Justices SK Agnihotri and KK Sasidharan was informed the statue would be shifted to the memorial proposed to be built by the State on a 65 cent land on Durgabai Deshmukh Salai, RA Puram, opposite the erstwhile Sathya Studios.
Meanwhile, the State moved the Supreme Court with an appeal challenging the January 2014 order of the High Court. When the appeal came up on November 15, the State government submitted a schedule for completion of the Manimandapam.
As per the schedule, tenders will be called for on January 15, 2016 and finalised before January 31. The work will be over by October 31, 2016. The Supreme Court had directed the State to adhere to the schedule strictly and added that no more time would be given for the completing the Manimandapam.
The contempt application came up before the second Bench on Thursday and the additional advocate general PH Arvind Pandian produced schedule copy.