TN Assembly clears bill to convert Jaya’s Poes Garden into a memorial

The late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa’s Poes Garden residence “Veda Nilayam”, which was a power centre when she was alive, has now become the Tamil Nadu government’s property as it has passed a bill in the Assembly for converting it into a memorial.

On 17 August 2017, Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami announced that the Tamil Nadu government will acquire Jayalalithaa’s Poes Garden residence for converting it into a memorial for the former CM to “portray and remember her sacrifices and achievements she made for the state”.

Following the announcement by the Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu’s development and publicity department took ownership of the property by invoking Section 19 of the Right to Fair Compensa-tion and Transparency in Land Acquisition Act. Now with the passing of the bill in the Assembly on Wednesday, it is mandatory to take possession of the property for the maintenance. The property was unused for a long time since the death of Jayalalithaa.

Meanwhile, the Madras High Court on Wednesday issued a notice to the state government to reply within six weeks on a case filed by Jayalalithaa’s nephew J. Deepak, challenging the ordinance promulgated by the state to acquire her Poes Garden residence. According to Deepak, the house was used for celebrating several functions and family events. His aunt never had any plans of converting the house into a memorial but the government has taken steps to acquire it, he said