Memorials for leaders only at State cost, counters A-G

The Madras High Court on Monday asked why a mausoleum for former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa at the Marina Beach should not be constructed at private cost since a public interest litigation petitioner had objected not to the construction per se but only the use of public money for it.

Justices Huluvadi G. Ramesh and K. Kalayanasundaram raised the query during the hearing of a PIL petition filed by advocate M.L. Ravi, who sought the court to restrain the State government from spending public money because Jayalalithaa had been “convicted” in a corruption case.

However, Advocate-General Vijay Narayan said mausoleums as well as memorials for national leaders were constructed not only at State cost but also on public land.

He contended that the petitioner’s argument on Jayalalithaa’s conviction had already been rejected by the court while dismissing a PIL filed against unveiling of her portrait in the Legislative Assembly.

Earlier judgment

On April 27, the first Division Bench of the High Court led by its then Chief Justice Indira Banerjee (now a Supreme Court judge) and Justice Abdul Quddhose had dismissed a PIL petition filed by DMK MLA J. Anbazhagan seeking a direction to the Speaker as well as Secretary of the Legislative Assembly to remove the portrait.

The plea was rejected on the ground that no such direction could be issued in the absence of a law prohibiting display of portraits of a person reportedly convicted for corruption.