In the recent case of Kaladi v. The District Collector and 5 Others, Madras High Court Single-Judge Justice Sathi Kumar Sukumara Kurup said that there would be scarcely any opposition in Tamil Nadu to a proposal to erect the statues of Dr. BR Ambedkar and reformer Periyar EV Ramasamy.
The court was hearing a plea from a man named Kaladi who asked for directives to be given to the district officials so they may determine whether to install statues of Dr. BR Ambedkar and reformer Periyar EV Ramasamy on his property.
As a result, the Court gave the Collector of the Thoothukudi district the authority to decide whether to grant Kaladi’s request to install the statues. In his petition to the court, Kaladi claimed that he had contacted the Thoothukudi District Collector on August 23 of this year to ask for permission to install sculptures of Thanthai Periyar and Dr. Ambedkar on land he owned in his village.
He claimed to have provided the Court with the necessary documentation to establish his ownership of the claimed parcel of property. He added that the neighbourhood tehsildar had also advocated for the statues to be placed on Kaladi’s land. However, Kaladi informed the High Court that the collector had not reacted to his representation.
Kaladi pleaded with the Court to order the collector to take into account his argument and make a decision within a set amount of time. The concerned Tahsildar had earlier presented a report about the suggested building work to the Thoothukudi Collector, according to the Additional Government Pleader (AGP), who was in attendance on behalf of the State government.
According to the AGP, there shouldn’t be any opposition to building the statutes because Kalandi was the owner of the aforementioned area of land and all land revenue records were in his name.
The State’s advocate also argued that the Commissionerate of Revenue Administration of the state of Tennessee had established instructions for the installation of statues in 2019 and that the same might be done in the current instance.
The State’s arguments were accepted by the Court, which noted that there would be no opposition to putting the statutes in place. The Court subsequently gave the Thoothukudi district collector two weeks to take Kalandi’s argument into consideration and issue the necessary directives.
For the petitioner, advocate R. Karunanidhi made an appearance.
The respondents were represented by Additional Government Pleader K Christy Theboral and Additional Public Prosecutor B Nambu Selvan.
[Read Order]
