Chennai: The Madras high court (HC) Wednesday allowed DMK leader M Karunanidhi to be buried at Chennai’s Marina beach against Tamil Nadu’s refusal to allot space for him to be buried at the beach.
The order came on a petition filed by the Dravidian party. Hearing the court’s verdict, Karunanidhi’s son and political heir MK Stalin broke down in the court premises.
Earlier, the DMK in its concluding arguments in the court said, “All we need is 6X6 foot land for a tall leader, nothing else.”
The ruling AIADMK said the burial place decision was a policy issue and court cannot intervene. “Only chief ministers who died in office were allotted space at the Marina Beach,” the government said.
The DMK said no law says only chief ministers are eligible for burial at Marina beach. “’You (the state government) have announced state mourning, why not give land for burial? There’s no prohibition under central government protocol to allot land at Marina beach for ex-chief ministers,” the DMK said.
The acting chief justice then asked to see permission granted for Jayalalithaa’s memorial.
The DMK’s lawyer told the court, “Anna, who is the founder of DMK, used to say my life and soul is Karunanidhi. Burying Karunanidhi next to Gandhi Mandapam cannot be termed as a decent burial
The Tamil Nadu government in its counter affidavit said that DMK chief Karunanidhi as CM didn’t allot land for former CM Janaki Ramachandran after understanding the protocol manual . Janaki was the wife of AIADMK leader MG Ramachandran.
Madras high court on Wednesday resumed hearing on a DMK petition to allow M Karunanidhi to be buried at Chennai’s Marina Beach.
Marina Beach is the resting place of the icons of Dravidian politics. CN Annadurai, founder of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, is buried there, so is MG Ramachandran, who broke off to form AIADMK, and his political successor J Jayalalithaa.
The DMK moved the court late Tuesday, hours after the state government announced its inability to allot burial space on the Marina beach citing legal hurdles.
In a special late night hearing before the first bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice Huluvadi G Ramesh and Justice S S Sundar, the counsel for DMK questioned the government’s legal ground for not allotting space for burying Karunanidhi at the Marina beach. The high court met at Ramesh’s official residence at 10.30pm and heard arguments by Tamil Nadu’s lawyer CS Vaidyanathan and DMK lawyer P Wilson.
A division bench of the court comprising Acting Chief Justice H G Ramesh and S S Sundar passed the order on a petition filed by the DMK at a special hearing.
Tamil Nadu’s main opposition party had moved the court last night after the AIADMK government rejected its request for allowing the burial of Karunanidhi on the famed Marina sands alongside his mentor and former chief minister C N Annadurai.
Earlier, soon after the court resumed the hearing on the DMK’s plea, which was adjourned in the wee hours today, all five petitions challenging former chief minister late Jayalalithaa’s burial at the Marina on different grounds were dismissed as withdrawn.
These petitions had been cited by the government for denying permission to bury the DMK stalwart on the beach, which also has memorials to former chief ministers M G Ramachandran and his protegee Jayalalithaa.
Defending its decision the state government said the previous DMK government headed by Karunanidhi had turned down a plea for burying late chief minister M G Ramachandran’s wife Janaki on ground she was not a sitting CM.
Agencies