Mr. Prabhakaran Sr. Counsel appeared for the DMK party and argued that the property was a private property and that there is no right for the petitioner to seek restraining the party to erect a statue for the former five time chief minister.

The DMK Party’s Thiruvannamalai District wing was preparing to erect a statue of Dr. Kalaignar Karunanidhi on June 3. A PIL was filed in W.P No. 12929 of 2022 before the Hon’ble Madras High Court claiming that the property on which the statue was to be erected is an encroachment.

The Hon’ble Madras High Court vide order dated 19.05.2022 passed an order of interim injunction restraining erection of the statue and directed the district collector to file a report in the form of an affidavit as to whether there is any encroachment.

The DMK party was not impleaded in the writ petition. Therefore the party filed an impleading petition through its counsels P. Wilson Associates and prayed for vacating the order of injunction.

The matter was heard today before the Bench of Hon’ble Mr. Justice M.S. Ramesh and Hon’ble Mr. Justice M. Shaffiq. Mr. Prabhakaran Sr. Counsel appeared for the DMK party and argued that the property was a private property and that there is no right for the petitioner to seek restraining the party to erect a statue for the former five time chief minister.

Mr. J. Ravindran AAG appearing for the State submitted that the writ petition itself is not maintainable as the person was living in Chennai and claimed to be interested in the property in Thiruvannamalai. That apart, the district collector has also caused an inspection and filed a counter affidavit stating that there was no encroachment on public lands as alleged by the Writ Petitioner.

The Hon’ble Court heard the case at length on 01.06.2022 and reserved for orders.