Plea to shift mortal remains ofJayalalithaa from Marina beach

An advocate has filed a public interest litigation petition in the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the Commissioner of Greater Chennai Corporation to remove the mortal remains of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa from Marina beach and bury them in a non-coastal area. He also sought a direction restraining the Centre as well as State government from raising a memorial for her in the present site of burial.

S. Jayaseelan, 48, had filed the case on the ground that Jayalalithaa had been convicted in a corruption case and therefore burying the remains of a convict on the beach was against public morality. “No convict should be given a State honour. Memorials are raised in praise and in memory of the leaders who spent their life for public cause.... Jayalalithaa went to jail not for any public cause but for looting Tamil Nadu of ₹53 crore,” he said.

The petitioner contended that convicts should not be celebrated and honoured by the State. Referring to Section 319 of the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act of 1919 which empowers the Commissioner to issue licence to places used for disposing dead bodies, he said the State government had not obtained any such licence before burying the remains of Jayalalithaa at the Marina beach.

He said the mortal remains of former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran were also buried on the Marina beach without complying with the requirements under Section 319 of the Act, and therefore his memorial was also an “illegal construction.”

He pointed out that construction of such permanent structures on beaches had also been banned by the Centre through the Coastal Regulatory Zone notifications issued in 2011.

Activist ‘Traffic’ K.R. Ramaswamy has also filed a similar PIL petition seeking a direction to the State government to consider a representation made by him for stopping the works under way to construct a memorial for Jayalalithaa at the Marina beach.