No unveiling of Karunanidhi statue in TN town as of now

There will be no unveiling of the statue of former Chief Minister and DMK supremo late M Karunanidhi on the occasion of his birth anniversary celebrations on June 3 in Tiruvannamalai, as the Madras High Court did not pass any order on a related matter on Thursday and the stay already given is still in force.

A vacation bench of Justices M S Ramesh and Mohammed Shaffiq said today that it would rehear the matter on June 6.

G Karthick of Chennai had filed a PIL petition praying for a direction to authorities concerned to remove the encroachment in Vengikkal village in Tiruvannamalai district and its surrounding areas. The plea alleged that A Rajendran owned land measuring just about 92-1/2 sq. ft. However, in collusion with government authorities, secured patta for area over and above that he owned.

In the encroached portion, attempts were being made to install a statue of late leader Karunanidhi, which would cause greater inconvenience to the public at large. The other respondents in the petition included an educational trust and state minister E V Velu. When the matter came up on May 18, the Additional Advocate-General had objected to the petition by stating that there was no illegality in the matter. The writ petition was not maintainable as the petitioner, a resident of Chennai, had no locus to file the petition, he had contended.

Considering the allegations and counter allegations, the then vacation bench of Justices S M Subramaniam and J Sathya Narayana Prasad directed the authorities and the parties concerned to maintain status-quo in the matter.

Subsequently, when the matter came up last week, the Collector stated that he had to collect details from the local SP, DRO, Highways divisional engineer, RDO, Tahsildar and the BDO, for which more time was required. Hence, he prayed for more time.

And the bench granted an order of interim injunction restraining the Jeeva Educational Trust, by its managing trustee E V Kumaran, son of minister Velu and Velu himself, in any way laying or erecting the statue or putting up any further construction in the property in question, pending disposal of the petition.

When the matter came up for further hearing on June 1, the DMK impleaded itself as a party respondent in the case and argued against the PIL before the present bench of Justices Ramesh and Mohammed Shafiq. The bench was told that there was no encroachment on public or private land, as alleged by the petitioner. The statue would be erected within the confined area of patta land. And the bench reserved its orders on June 1. As the unveiling of the statue was scheduled to be held on June 3, the birth anniversary of Karunanidhi, it was expected that the bench would pass its orders (either way), today.

But the bench did not pass any order today. Instead it said that it would rehear the matter, when the High Court will reopen after summer vacation.