SC nod for ‘Pen Monument’ project at Marina Beach in memory late Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi

Nallathambi filed the petition on behalf of the fishermen and former fisheries minister D Jayakumar of the AIADMK.

Related: DMK defends Pen Memorial for Karunanidhi on Marina beach

Project environmental concerns

The petitioners had sought to stall the construction of the Pen Monument, projecting the environmental concerns and the livelihood of the local fishers community.

Opposing the petitions, senior advocate P Wilson argued that the petition was devoid of any merit and that coastal regulation clearance was obtained for the memorial.

Wilson told the bench that the proposed memorial would cause no distress to the fisherman or adversely impact the Olive Ridley turtles who come to nest on the Indian east coast.

Wilson described the plea by Jayakumar as politically motivated and devoid of any public interest and told the bench that the AIADMK government, in 2018, had refused to grant six feet of burial ground to Dr Kalaignar (as Karunanidhi was addressed) and now they’re opposing the construction of the Pen memorial.

The petition sought a direction from the apex court to the Tamil Nadu government and the Ministry of Environment to withdraw the decision to construct the monument as it could damage the ecosystem.

Related: Centre gives conditional nod to Pen memorial at Marina Beach

‘Breached environmental protection rules’

The petitioners alleged that all the departments of the state government gave clearance for the proposed monument in breach of the statutory regimes governing environmental protection.

The plea had said, “The expert opinions suggest that the devastating floods faced in recent years in Tamil Nadu are the immediate result of uncontrolled construction activities on sea shores and unscrupulous trespass into the natural path of backwaters.”

The monument, estimated to cost ₹80 crore, could further affect the coastline and will impact the fish population since Marina Beach is an area which has a high accretion rate (accumulation of sand).

The ruling DMK government has been pushing for the monument, which is meant to honour the rich Tamil literary tradition. Karunanidhi has penned dialogues and screenplays for more than 50 movies, besides writing historical sagas, biographies, poems, and novels.

Related: Hurdle for Pen Memorial as PIL is filed in Supreme Court

Green flag by Centre

In the last week of April, the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change gave the green signal for the Pen Monument off the Marina.

However, the EAC asked the state to get a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the naval base INS Adyar before taking up construction work.

It also directed the government to set up an expert Monitoring Committee during the implementation of the project and added its clearance would be subject to the outcome of several PILs filed against the monument.

Public Works Department sources said the state has submitted a project report to INS Adyar. The Eastern Naval Command has not issued the NOC as yet, they said.

On 19 June, the Union Ministry of Environment stated that the Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) clearance was granted for the project based on the recommendations of the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) dated 17 April and the Tamil Nadu Coastal Zone Management Authority (TNCZMA) dated 6 April.

The monument’s planned site would cover 8,551.13 sq m and it would, reportedly, fall under areas demarcated as CRZs I-A, II, and IV-A.

According to norms, the construction of memorials or monuments in CRZ-IV should be discouraged but allowed only in “exceptional cases” with adequate environmental safeguards.

However, several NGOs and people’s organisations are demanding a halt to the project.

Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTM) chief Seeman had been opposing the project claiming it would affect the livelihood of fishermen and said that he would break the monument if it was erected.