CHENNAI: A division bench of the Madras High Court, comprising justices MS Ramesh and Mohammed Shaffiq, on Wednesday, reserved the orders on a case relating to the installation of DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi's statue in Tiruvannamalai town.
The original petition, a public interest litigation (PIL), was filed by a Chennai resident, G Karthick. The court, on May 18, issued an interim injunction on the installation of the statue and directed the district Collector to file a detailed report on whether the site for the statue was an encroached land, as alleged by the petitioner.
In the meantime, Jeeva Educational Trust run by EV Kumaran, son of Tamil Nadu PWD and Highways Minister EV Velu, filed a petition seeking to vacate the interim stay. When the matter came up on Wednesday, Additional Advocate General (AAG) J Ravindran and senior advocate S Prabakaran, appearing for the trust, submitted that the site was not an encroached land but patta land belonging to a private party.
The AAG questioned the maintainability of the PIL when the matter was related to a private land and wanted the court to make a decision immediately as the installation of the statue was scheduled for the occasion of the birth anniversary of the late leader on June 3.
When the judges questioned the counsel for the petitioner as to how public interest was involved in a private land, he could not give a convincing reply but refrained saying that pattas were given to several persons on the same survey number. Subsequently, the judges reserved the orders.