HC notice to TN over erecting Karunanidhi's statue in park

The Madras High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Tamil Nadu government on a petition seeking installation of a statue of former chief minister and late DMK president M Karunanidhi at a park in Erode.

Hearing the petition filed by DMK's Erode district secretary S Muthusamy, Justice G Jeyachandran issued the notice to authorities concerned, including the municipal administration secretary, returnable in two weeks.

The petitioner submitted that the party had made a representation to the officials seeking permission to install a life-size brass statue of Karunanidhi, who died on August 7, 2018.

Despite several reminders, no action has been taken on the representation, he said.

However, permission was granted recently to install a statue of late Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa and it had been erected.

According to the petitioner, the partymen wanted Karunanidhi's statue at a prominent place in Erodeto pay tribute to the departed leader and to commemorate his ideals.

Thepodium/platform at the Pannerselvam park, where there are statues of leaders like E V Ramasamy, C N Annadurai and M G Ramachandran, was chosen for the erection of Karunanidhi's statue.

Stating that Karunanidhi had been a 13-time MLA and a five-time Chief Minister of the state besides being the DMK president for 50 years, the petitioner said there could be no impediment or prohibition to install the statue of DMK patriarch at the park.

But, the Municipal administrationhad not taken any action on the petitioner's prayer or subsequent reminders.

In fact, it was the DMK party, which has been maintaining the air-conditioned competitive exam library located below the podium.

Hence, there is no justification for the Municipal Administration secretary to sit over the representations of the petitioner despite the recommendations of other authorities, including the Erode Collector, SP, DRO, Highways department and the Corporation Commissioner, the petitioner contented.