The Madras High Court on Tuesday disposed of a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a direction to the Tamil Nadu government to demolish the “illegal and unauthorised” construction of a bungalow in the Kodanadu tea estate in Nilgiris which allegedly belongs to former chief minister J Jayalalitha and her associate, Sasikala.
The first Bench, comprising Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice Jothimani, disposed of the  petition filed by the Kothagiri panchayat union president K M  Raju, after recording the  submissions of Additional Advocate-General P S Raman and Mr N Jothi, advocate for the estate management.
Mr Raman told the court that the government had already issued a notice to the estate owners under the Village Panchayat Act on the construction.
Panchayat Act
However, Mr Jothi contended that since it was a matter coming under the Panchayat Act, the state government cannot intervene in it.
The bench did not take kindly to the public interest litigation from the admission stage itself. When the matter came up on Monday, Chief Justice Shah said the state government was behind the petition and asked: “Is it ready to show the same zeal in regard to unauthorised constructions in the city?”
The bench also wanted to know why the public interest litigation had been filed when already a petition had been filed before a single judge by the estate manager, questioning the notice issued by the district authorities over the building under construction.
‘Judges not invited’
Making it clear that the “judges are not invited to encounter this type of cases in any other  state”, he asked the government pleader to get instructions and come back to the court.
The issue has assumed political dimension as the chief minister has produced the balance sheet of the company owning the estate to show that Ms Jayalalitha and Ms Sasikala Natarajan have stake in it. Neither of the two has denied it so far.