HC refuses stay on Veda Nilayam takeover

Justice N Anand Venkatesh, before whom arguments prevailed in the case, also referred the matter to a division bench led by Justice N Kirubakaran on holding that a similar plea moved by Deepa’s brother Deepak has already been referred to that bench.

However, the judge refused to grant an interim stay in the acquisition process until the division bench commenced hearing into the matter. But when the counsel kept insisting on the stay, the judge sought to know as to where Deepa was staying when her aunt was alive.

To this, the counsel claimed that before Jayalalithaa could become the CM they lived as a joint family and thereafter separated.

Earlier, while Advocate General Vijay Narayan submitted that another HC order had sought the petitioner to form a trust in the name of Jayalalithaa and spend the money accruing out of it for the welfare of the poor, Justice Anand Venkatesh remarked that the petitioner was willing to sell other properties of the former CM to the trust but they (Deepa and Deepak) want to keep Veda Nilayam to themselves.

Deepa had contended that Land Acquisition Act 2013 does not empower the State Government to acquire private land to convert it into a memorial and that the acquisition of Veda Nilayam will hamper the inquiry by Justice Arumugasamy Commission into the death of her aunt since it was from where she was taken to Apollo Hospitals.