Govt.’s argument that Marina is only for serving CMs falls flat
AUGUST 09, 2018 00:00 IST
High Court special hearing on a holiday wins the day for DMK
It was the 156-year-old Madras High Court which on Wednesday made sure that the mortal remains of the 94-year-old Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) patriarch and former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi were laid to rest within the precincts of his political mentor C.N. Annadurai’s mausoleum at the Marina beach here.
The First Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Huluvadi G. Ramesh and Justice S.S. Sundar allowed a writ petition filed by R.S. Bharathi, Organising Secretary of DMK, and quashed a press release issued by Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan on Tuesday expressing inability to allocate space for the burial at the Marina.
The two judges directed the government to “provide a place for decent burial to lay the mortal remains (sic) of Late Dr. ‘Kalaignar’ M. Karunanidhi... on the Marina beach” and ordered that the exercise be carried out by the Chief Secretary as well as secretaries of Home, Public as well as Public Works departments forthwith.
Wednesday had been declared a holiday for the High Court in view of Karunanidhi’s death on Tuesday, yet the court held a special sitting to hear the case seeking a space for his mortal remains at the Marina. The hearing began as early as 8 a.m. and the orders were passed by 10.45 a.m. since the burial was scheduled on the same day.
Though the judges had dictated the facts of the case to their personal secretary even before the commencement of arguments by the senior counsel representing the petitioner as well as the State government, they, at the end of the hearing, released only the operative portion of their judgment “considering the exigency involved.”
A detailed judgment, containing the reasons for allowing the writ petition, “will follow,” they said.
Earlier, advocates S. Doraisamy of Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam and K. Balu of PMK withdrew cases filed by them last year opposing a mausoleum for Jayalalithaa in the Marina.
Though activist ‘Traffic’ K.R. Ramaswamy had also filed a public interest litigation petition last year seeking a direction to shift the mausoleums of Annadurai, M.G. Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa out of the Marina beach, his counsel, on Tuesday refused to withdraw that case. However, he said he had ‘no objection’ to burying Karunanidhi’s body in the coastal area.
The counsel said the activist wanted to pursue the case to its logical end and get all the four mausoleums shifted out of Marina during the final hearing of his case. The Division Bench refused to accept such a submission and dismissed his writ petition after recording the statement that he had no objection to burial of Karunanidhi’s body in the Marina.
It was only thereafter that senior counsel P. Wilson, representing the writ petitioner, commenced his arguments. He contended that all top leaders of the Dravidian movement had been buried at the Marina, and therefore, it was not fair on the part of the State government to deny space at the beach for a five-time former Chief Minister of the State.
He contended that forcing the DMK leaders to bury the body of their party president next to Gandhi Mandapam at Sardar Patel Road here amounted to violation of the constitutional right to life which includes a right to decent burial after death. “Burying Kalaignar Karunanidhi next to Gandhi Mandapam cannot be termed as decent burial,” he argued.
‘Decent burial’
In his submissions, senior counsel Veera Kathiravan of the DMK said, “a loved one should be buried along with his mentor; only then it can be termed as a decent burial.” He also contended that the Union Home Ministry’s ‘Instructions regarding action to be taken on the death of high dignitaries’ had nothing to do with the place of burial.
However, in his reply, senior counsel C.S. Vaidyanathan, representing the State government, said, Karunanidhi himself, during his stint as Chief Minister, had understood well that mortal remains of former Chief Ministers could not be buried at the Marina beach, and therefore, he did not allot space there either for K. Kamaraj or Janaki Ramachandran.
It was the 156-year-old Madras High Court which on Wednesday made sure that the mortal remains of the 94-year-old Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) patriarch and former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi were laid to rest within the precincts of his political mentor C.N. Annadurai’s mausoleum at the Marina beach here.
The First Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Huluvadi G. Ramesh and Justice S.S. Sundar allowed a writ petition filed by R.S. Bharathi, Organising Secretary of DMK, and quashed a press release issued by Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan on Tuesday expressing inability to allocate space for the burial at the Marina.
The two judges directed the government to “provide a place for decent burial to lay the mortal remains (sic) of Late Dr. ‘Kalaignar’ M. Karunanidhi... on the Marina beach” and ordered that the exercise be carried out by the Chief Secretary as well as secretaries of Home, Public as well as Public Works departments forthwith.
Wednesday had been declared a holiday for the High Court in view of Karunanidhi’s death on Tuesday, yet the court held a special sitting to hear the case seeking a space for his mortal remains at the Marina. The hearing began as early as 8 a.m. and the orders were passed by 10.45 a.m. since the burial was scheduled on the same day.
Though the judges had dictated the facts of the case to their personal secretary even before the commencement of arguments by the senior counsel representing the petitioner as well as the State government, they, at the end of the hearing, released only the operative portion of their judgment “considering the exigency involved.”
A detailed judgment, containing the reasons for allowing the writ petition, “will follow,” they said.
Earlier, advocates S. Doraisamy of Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam and K. Balu of PMK withdrew cases filed by them last year opposing a mausoleum for Jayalalithaa in the Marina.
Though activist ‘Traffic’ K.R. Ramaswamy had also filed a public interest litigation petition last year seeking a direction to shift the mausoleums of Annadurai, M.G. Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa out of the Marina beach, his counsel, on Tuesday refused to withdraw that case. However, he said he had ‘no objection’ to burying Karunanidhi’s body in the coastal area.
The counsel said the activist wanted to pursue the case to its logical end and get all the four mausoleums shifted out of Marina during the final hearing of his case. The Division Bench refused to accept such a submission and dismissed his writ petition after recording the statement that he had no objection to burial of Karunanidhi’s body in the Marina.
It was only thereafter that senior counsel P. Wilson, representing the writ petitioner, commenced his arguments. He contended that all top leaders of the Dravidian movement had been buried at the Marina, and therefore, it was not fair on the part of the State government to deny space at the beach for a five-time former Chief Minister of the State.
He contended that forcing the DMK leaders to bury the body of their party president next to Gandhi Mandapam at Sardar Patel Road here amounted to violation of the constitutional right to life which includes a right to decent burial after death. “Burying Kalaignar Karunanidhi next to Gandhi Mandapam cannot be termed as decent burial,” he argued.
‘Decent burial’
In his submissions, senior counsel Veera Kathiravan of the DMK said, “a loved one should be buried along with his mentor; only then it can be termed as a decent burial.” He also contended that the Union Home Ministry’s ‘Instructions regarding action to be taken on the death of high dignitaries’ had nothing to do with the place of burial.
However, in his reply, senior counsel C.S. Vaidyanathan, representing the State government, said, Karunanidhi himself, during his stint as Chief Minister, had understood well that mortal remains of former Chief Ministers could not be buried at the Marina beach, and therefore, he did not allot space there either for K. Kamaraj or Janaki Ramachandran.
