SC rejects plea against TN govt's stand to shift assembly

The Supreme Court Thursday dismissed a plea challenging the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government's decision to shift legislative assembly-cum-secretariat complex back to its old building at Fort St. George in Chennai.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir refused to set aside the state government's decision which was taken after AIADMK came back to power in May 2011.

The bench said these issues should be raised before another forum and the court should not adjudicate them after it was pleaded that the decision was taken only to override the earlier decision taken by the DMK government to shift the assembly to the new building at Omandurar Government Estate in Chennai.

The Jayalalithaa government had decided to shift the secretariat to the Fort St. George and convert the new building constructed by the previous DMK government into a multi-speciality hospital-cum-medical college.

The apex court passed the order on a plea filed by DMK leader R Veeramani challenging the Madras high court's decision upholding the shifting of the assembly to the older building.

On June 20, last year, the court had declined to interfere with the plea pending in the Madras high court seeking to restrain the Tamil Nadu government from shifting the secretariat building to Fort St. George.