DROs to receive, handle golden armour during Thevar jayanthi

MADURAI: Holding that it may not be feasible to grant custody of Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar’s golden armour to either factions of the AIADMK amid dispute, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the District Revenue Officers (DROs) of Madurai and Ramanathapuram to take responsibility of handling the armour during the Thevar Jayanti celebrations.

Justice V Bhavani Subbaroyan directed the Madurai DRO, along with the caretaker of Pasumpon Thevar Memorial, to receive the armour from the Bank of India’s Anna Nagar Branch in Madurai under police protection, and hand it over to the Ramanathapuram DRO. The latter, in coordination with the Ramanathapuram Superintendent of Police, would be responsible for adorning the freedom fighter’s statue at Pasumpon with the armour and protecting it for the duration of the celebrations (October 27 to November 1), till it is deposited back in the bank.

Both the factions of AIADMK should not interfere with the above process at any cost as the armour was donated by former AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa, the judge added.Justice Subbaroyan passed this interim order while hearing a petition filed by AIADMK treasurer Dindigul C Sreenivasan and the impleading petition filed by former chief minister O Panneerselvam; both seeking custody of the 13-kg gold armour. Sreenivasan also sought permission to operate the joint account held by AIADMK and the memorial in the aforesaid bank for safeguarding the armour, as the bank authorities had frozen the account owing to the pending legal battle between the two factions.

Since the two factions are at loggerheads, the judge opined that both their requests cannot be accepted as it may lead to law and order problems. However, the customary event, which is celebrated every year by adorning the statue with gold armour, cannot be stopped merely because there is a dispute within the political party. 

Meanwhile, the main petition relating to the party’s control over the joint bank account is still pending. Earlier, senior counsel K Chellapandian, who represented OPS, recalled a similar situation in 2017, when the custody of the armour was handed over to the then district collector and suggested a similar order.