HC orders status quo on erection of MGR, Jaya statues

The Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered status quo and issued a notice to authorities on a plea seeking to restrain erection of statues of the late ruling AIADMK leaders M G Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa by party workers on alleged encroached public and private land in Tirutani town.

Justices M M Sundresh and RMT Teekaa Raman issued notice returnable by two weeks to the District Collector and the Superintendent of Police of neighbouring Tiruvallore district.

Petitioner R Radhakrishnan, who resides in Subramania Nagar of Tirutani in Tiruvallur district, alleged that lands adjacent to plots in the area, adjacent to a national highway, were earmarked as a public road and the residents had been using it as a service road. However, later forged documents had been registered in the Sub-Registrar office in Tirutani by certain persons claiming ownership of the public land and it was encroached upon for the erection of the statues of the late leaders, he alleged.

Despite repeated complaints to the District Collector and the SP, no action was taken against the 'encroachers' and even a petition submitted in the Chief Minister's Special Cell had gone in vain, he submitted.

The petitioner alleged that local cadre of the AIADMK in blatant disregard of law have started the erection of the statues on the land causing inconvenience to the public who are finding it difficult to navigate the service road.

He also contended that a sale deed with regard to a part of his land had been registered in the name of one Jayasekar for the purpose of installing the statues at the instance of the AIADMK members though he had not sold it.

The petitioner sought a direction from the court to prevent any structure from being erected on the lands and also for cancelling 'forged' documents.