MADURAI
Gandhian P. Vadivelu, younger brother of freedom fighter and former Minister P. Kakkan, moved the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday seeking a direction to both the Centre and State to allot additional funds to maintain the Gandhi Museum here.
Mr. Vadivelu, an executive committee member of the museum, also sought pay parity for the staff on a par with those employed at National Gandhi Museum, Delhi.
Gandhi Memorial Museum in Madurai, established under Gandhi Smarak Nidhi in 1959, was built over 13.5 acres of land donated by the State and most of the staff engaged had been serving for over 20 years. But their salary was a cause for concern, the petitioner said.
Being engaged at the museum for such a long time, they could be considered the guardians of Gandhian ideology, but were only receiving a paltry sum as salary. He blamed the Centre and the State for not releasing additional corpus fund to augment salary.
He sought a direction to the State and Centre to consider the plight of the staff and enhance their pay on a par with their counterparts at National Gandhi Museum, Delhi. He also sought the release of additional corpus fund to maintain the museum.
A Division Bench of Justices N. Kirubakaran and S. S. Sundar sought a response from the Centre and State and adjourned the hearing till March 25.