PIL seeking Bharat Ratna for Jaya dismissed

The Madras high court on Friday dismissed a PIL seeking a direction to the Union government to confer the Bharat Ratna on late All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader J Jayalalithaa, saying it does not want to interfere in such matters.

The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M Sundar rejected the PIL filed by K K Ramesh, managing trustee of the Tamil Nadu Centre for Public Interest Litigation.

The petitioner after narrating Jayalalithaa's life history, said she had bagged Tamil Nadu state film awards for best actress apart from many other awards and was a five-time chief minister.

The petitioner went on list the many welfare schemes launched by her including Amma canteens to provide food at lowest price and free laptops and cycles for students.

As she cared for the people of Tamil Nadu as a mother, she was called Amma, he said.

Ramesh said he was constrained to file this petition as his December 15 representation to the Union government on the matter had not evoked any response.

But the the court stated that it does not want to interfere in such matters.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Pannerselvam had on December 19 last year urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to confer the Bharat Ratna on Jayalalithaa, who passed away on December 5.

At its first meeting on December 10 after Jayalalithaa's death, the Tamil Nadu cabinet had decided to recommend her name for Bharat Ratna and to propose to the Centre to install her life-size bronze statue in the Parliament complex.