CHENNAI: S Doraisamy, an advocate, has moved the Madras High Court to quash a notification of the State Public Works Department (PWD) inviting tenders for construction of a memorial for former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on the Marina.
He contended that when a PIL moved by him assailing the decision of the government to build a memorial for Jayalalithaa, who had been ‘convicted by the Supreme Court’ in the disproportionate assets case was still pending adjudication, such a move by PWD was illegal. He prayed the court to set aside the notification dated January 11 for an estimated cost of Rs 43.63 crore.
In his earlier PIL, Doraisamy had prayed the court to direct the government to exhume the mortal remains of Jayalalithaa from the Marina, a Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ), and to bury it elsewhere. The government had constructed memorials for leaders like Kamarajar and C N Annadurai, but Jayalalithaa cannot be included in that list as she had been ‘convicted’ by the Apex Court. Convicts have no right to get to be celebrated and honoured by the State. The memorial for former Chief Minister M G Ramachandran (MGR) on the Marina, was also built without any permission, he contended.
Responding, the government had filed a counter recently claiming that constructing a road-facing structure that too for a memorial, was a permissible activity under the CRZ notification. The affidavit also denied the allegation that the government planned to build the memorial in prohibited areas of CRZ on the Marina. The location was CRZ-II, where construction was permitted on the landward side.