Chennai: The Madras high court has directed J.Deepa and J.Deepak, niece and nephew of former chief minister late J.Jayalalithaa, to appear before the court on August 30 in connection with a plea to appoint an administrator to administer the property.
A division bench comprising Justices N.Kirubakaran and Abdul Quddhose gave the directive and posted to August 30, further hearing of the appeal filed by K.Pugazhendhi, against an order of a single judge, dismissed his petition.
When the appeal came up for hearing, advocate N.S.Nandakumar, appearing for the petitioner submitted that former chief minister Jayalalithaa passed away without executing any will. She had also declared that she had no heirs. The value of the property owned by former chief minister was more thousand crores. There were several unaccounted properties, which should go to the revenue department and then to the general public.
The petitioner wants the court to appoint a competent administrator to administer the properties, he added.
Stating that the possession of Poes Garden property was with the district collector, advocate S.L.Sudarshanam, appearing for Deepak, submitted that after the demise of Jayalalithaa, all the rituals were performed by Deepak at the Poes Garden residence. Since there were lots of political developments, he left the house. When he and his sister Deepa attempted to go inside the house, there was some problem.
Therefore, the district collector took possession of the property. Certain other properties were in the possession of tenants. The UB group was the tenant in the Hyderabad property. After December 2016, he made application to the tahsildar to issue legal heir certificate. The tahsildar in his reply stated that “you are class II legal heir and hence, he cannot issue legal heir certificate. You have to approach the court”. In July 2018, Deepak filed a original petition for grant of letter of administration. Along with the petition, he filed 9 documents. It was sent to the district collector and thereafter a paper publication was made inviting objections. Deepak has let in evidence also and it was pending. When the government sought to acquire the Poes Garden property, a notice was issued inviting objection and Deepak gave objections on July 6, 2019, he added.
Sudarshanam said former chief minister availed a loan of `2 crore on August 3, 1996. For which, proceedings claiming `20 crore was pending before the Debt Recovery Tribunal. He has to discharge the loan. The income tax department says there was arrears of `40 crore, he added.
D.Saikumaran, counsel for Deepa said Deepa has filed an affidavit giving consent for grant of letter of administration.
Following this, the bench directed Deepa and Deepak to appear before the court in order to verify as to whether they filed the OP and consent affidavit.
Originally, Pugazhendhi, the South Chennai District deputy secretary of J.Jayalalithaa Peravai and P.Janakiraman of Nesapakkam had filed petitions to appoint them as administrators to administer the properties of Jayalalithaa worth over Rs 913 crore. Justice C.V.Karthikeyan had dismissed the petitions. Aggrieved, Pugazhendi filed the present appeal.
