Madras High Court moved against govt memorial for J Jayalalithaa

Chennai: A petition has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking to prevent the Tamil Nadu government from building a Jayalalithaa memorial at her burial site near the Marina Beach here or elsewhere.

Petitioner Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhgaam (TPDK) opposed construction of a memorial for Jayalalithaa by the government on the ground that she was the prime accused in the disproportionate wealth case in which Supreme Court recently convicted three co-accused.

When the petition came up for hearing, a bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Huluvadi G Ramesh and Justice R Mahadevan directed that it be tagged with similar petitions demanding removal of Jayalalithaa's portraits from government offices in view of the apex court verdict.

The bench posted the matter for further hearing on March 20, when the related PILs would also come up.

The court had on February 27 directed the state government to spell out its stand on the batch of PILs seeking removal of the portraits of Jayalalithaa from government offices and schemes on the ground that she had been 'convicted' in the wealth case.