A public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed against the proposed installation of a statue for former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi in Tiruvannamalai town got withdrawn on Tuesday with liberty to the litigant to file a fresh writ petition, challenging a ‘patta’ issued for 92.5 sq ft of land on which the statue was to be installed.
Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice N. Mala allowed the litigant to withdraw the petition with the liberty to file a fresh case. G. Karthick, 39, an iron scrap merchant, based in Chennai had filed the PIL petition last month alleging that the statue was to be erected by encroaching upon public properties.
However, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), represented by senior counsel P. Wilson, informed the court that it would be constructed strictly within 92.5 sq ft of private land. It said that the land was originally owned by an individual named M. Rajendran, who had sold it to Jeeva Educational Trust last year. The trust, in turn, gifted the property to the DMK.
The extent of the land was wrongly mentioned as 215 sq ft in the sale and gift deeds. However, since the patta had been issued only for 92.5 sq ft, necessary corrections were carried out by way of a rectification deed, executed on May 25 this year, the party said.
When the Division Bench pointed out that the petitioner could not question the validity of the ‘patta’ without having challenged it’s issuance, his counsel chose to withdraw the present petition with liberty to file a fresh case.
