Rajini family moves HC to reopen school locked by landlord

Sureshkumar| TNN | Aug 21, 2017, 11:34 AM IST

Aishwarya Dhanush

CHENNAI: Having suffered the ignominy of a family-run school being locked by the landowner for alleged non-payment of rental dues, actor Rajinikanth's daughter, Aishwarya Dhanush, has moved Madras high court to reopen the locked premises. She is the younger daughter of the superstar, and wife of actor Dhanush.

She has also demanded Rs 5 crore as compensation for defamation caused by the landowner, and another Rs 1 crore for wrongfully locking the school gate.

Aishwarya filed the suits in the court in her capacity as secretary of Raghavendra Education Society, which runs the Ashram School. Last week, the landowner locked the gate forcing the school management to shift students to another institution.

The suit, filed by advocate TT Ravichandran on behalf of Aishwarya, was mentioned before Justice CV Karthikeyan, who granted them permission to move the suit on Tuesday for admission.

Aishwarya has also requested the court to appoint an advocate commissioner to remove the lock.

It was her contention that when a suit filed by the landowner for recovery of arrears and enhanced rent was still in court he should not have locked the gate.

Claiming that the landowner's version of the rental dues was false, Aishwarya said the gates ought not to have been locked when the compromised talks between the parties were still on. The landowner wants the rental arrears, as well as enhanced rent, recovered from the school management.