Madras HC dismisses plea seeking removal of sand sculpture of Jayalalithaa in Kanyakumari

MADURAI: The Madurai bench of the Madras high court on Friday dismissed a

public interest litigation

seeking removal of a sand sculpture of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa from a state highway in Nagercoil.

The division bench of justices

K K Sasidharan

and

G R Swaminathan

passed the order on a petition filed by Kanyakumari-based DMK party man R Mahesh.

The petitioner said a few days after Jayalalithaa's death, the AIADMK partyman raised a sand sculpture of the leader near an MGR statue on the Vadasery Road on state highway.

They did not get any permission from authorities for raising the sculpture. As it caused huge hardship to commuters, a complaint was lodged with the Vadasery police on February 22. However, no action was taken.

He also said the sculpture was also getting damaged due to rain and scorching sun. Now, Rajya Sabha member Vijaya Kumar of AIADMK has set up a pandal over the sculpture and kept his name board in order to claim ownership of the land, the petitioner said.

Vijaya Kumar's advocates told the court that the plea was politically motivated and that the petitioner himself was maintaining a statue of late chief minister C N Annadurai.

The bench chided them, saying, "Don't use the court for political reasons," and dismissed the plea.

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