Chennai: Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Late J. Jaya Lalitha’s niece J. Deepa and Nephew J. Deepak were declared as class-II legal heirs of Jaya Lalitha. The Madras High Court on Wednesday declared the niece Deepa and nephew Deepak are the class-II legal heirs of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Late: J. Jaya Lalitha, and they are entitled to inherit on her assets.

The court also suggested to the state government not to waste public money on converting Jaya Lalitha’s Poes Garden residence in Chennai into a memorial, saying it could be instead be made the CM’s official residence. The court also said instead of acquiring Vedha Nilayam and paying hereby compensation to the legal heirs, the amount could be utilized for development purposes such as building infrastructures, providing potable drinking water, cleaning of water bodies etc.

When there are so many essential amenities that are yet to be provided by the welfare state, public money cannot be waster for the purpose of constructing memorials, said the dividend bench of Justices N. Kiruba Karan and Abdul Quddhose. The Judges also said that if the state government intense to convert the residence into a memorial, there will be no end to proposals. And if government were to turn the residences of deceased Chief Ministers into memorials, public money would be used up in this manner alone, they added.

 

The bench specified that Jaya Lalitha’s legal heirs should be heard with adequate notice before acquiring the poes garden property. It also directed the state to provide round the clock security to sibling Deepa and Deepak at their cost. For this, the court ask the deo to liquidate the any of the properties of Jaya Lalitha that they have inherited and put the proceeds in a fixed deposit with a nationalized banks to pay for the expenses incurred on security provided by the state.

Apart this, as agreed by Deepak and Deepa, the court directed them to allot a few properties left behind by their aunt according to their discretion and create a registered public trust in the name of Jaya Lalitha for charity. They are required to report to the court on this within eight weeks. The court also dismissed another plea moved by an AIADMK member K. Pugalenthi to appoint him and others as administrators of the properties that belonged to the late CM.

Assuming for a moment that they are the cadres, that itself would not give them the right to approach the court for grant of letters of administration for administering the vast properties of Jaya Lalitha, the court said.