The first Division Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday stayed the operation of an order passed by a single judge on Wednesday directing the State government to surrender with the Registrar General of the court the keys of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s Poes Garden residence ‘Veda Nilayam’, which had been converted into a memorial since Thursday.
Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy granted the interim stay after Advocate General Vijay Narayan pointed out to the court that the property was never in possession of the legal heirs J. Deepa and J. Deepak, the niece and nephew of Jayalalithaa. He said the government had acquired it in accordance with law.
Filing an appeal against the single judge’s order, the State contended that keys of ‘Veda Nilayam’ had been in the custody of the Collector of Chennai for long and hence there was no necessity to disturb such a status quo. The single judge’s order was passed on writ petitions preferred by the legal heirs, who had challenged the acquisition proceedings and the award of ₹67 crore.
Mr. Narayan said Ms. Deepa and Ms. Deepak were declared legal heirs when the acquisition proceedings were halfway through. Nevertheless, the government had given them sufficient opportunity to present their objections to the acquisition, considered those objections and then arrived at a decision that the acquisition was absolutely necessary in public interest.
After hearing the A-G and Additional Advocate General S.R. Rajagopal, the Division Bench ordered issuance of notices, returnable by Wednesday, to the legal heirs on the appeals preferred by the State.
It was made clear that the other portions of the single judge’s order with respect to not opening the memorial for public view and not letting anyone inside the building would be in force until further orders.
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