The Tamil Nadu government on July 3 urged the Supreme Court to dismiss a case against the 134-feet tall ‘pen’ statue project in the Marina beach in memory of DMK patriarch and former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.
Appearing for a Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, senior advocate P. Wilson, for the State, said the project has already got environmental clearance from the Centre.
Mr. Wilson intervened when the petitioner side sought an adjournment.
“What remains of this case anyway? The petition was filed in January 2023. The project has subsequently won environmental clearance from the Ministry. Under these circumstances, nothing survives in this case,” the senior lawyer submitted.
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The court noted that an intervention has been filed by an AIADMK leader. “I had made it clear about this... Don’t bring politics into court,” Justice Kaul said.
The court directed the case to be listed next week.
AIADMK plea had contended that the project would affect the livelihood of the traditional fishing community and harm the coastal ecosystem.
“The coastal ecosystem is highly threatened, encountering pollution, siltation and erosion, flooding, saltwater intrusion, and storm surges. NCCR (National Centre for Coastal Research) has found that from 1990 to 2016, 33% of India’s coastline witnessed erosion with the majority of it seen along the east coast facing the Bay of Bengal. Tamil Nadu, with 42.7% of its coast suffering erosion, ranks fourth in India,” party leader Nallathambi and others had submitted in their plea.
The Opposition leaders argued that they were not against constructing the statue on the mainland and not inside the beach.
The proposed project is estimated at Rs.81 crore and would cover a total area of 8551.13 sqm consisting of “Pen Pedestal above sea, Pedestrian Pathway above sea, Lattice Bridge above beach and land, Pedestrian Pathway above beach, Pedestrian Pathway from Dr.Karunanidhi memorial to bridge above beach”.
