The Madras High Court on Wednesday declared J Deepak and J Deepa, the nephew and niece of late Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa, as the “Class II legal heirs of” of her estate and other assets.

The assets of the late Chief Minister are estimated to be worth more than Rs 900 crore.

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The Madras High Court also suggested to the government that it converts a part of late J Jayalalithaa’s residence Veda Nilayam as a memorial suggesting that a part of her residence could also be used as the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s office.

The division bench of Justices N Kirubakaran and Abdul Quddhose was listening to a petition filed by J Deepak and granted him and J Deepa to administrate all the properties of the late chief minister.

“Deepak and Deepa are second class legal heirs of the late Chief Minister, being the son and daughter of her late brother Jayakumar,” the bench said while making it clear that the two were entitled for administration in respect of the estate held individually by late Jayalalithaa or in the names of firms or companies and the credits of the former AIADMK chief.

“State public money cannot be wasted for the purpose of constructing the memorial. The real tribute to any leader should be paid by following his/her principles and working for the benefit of the people and development of the society. If the government intends to make the residence of Late Chief Minister’s memorial as residence, there will be not be any end for such proposals,” observed the bench.

A few days back, Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit had issued an ordinance to allow the state government to take temporary possession of Veda Nilayam and set a foundation under present Chief Minister K Palaniswami to convert it into a memorial.

Deepak and Deepa shall allot a few properties according to their discretion and create a registered public trust in the name of their late aunt for the purpose of doing social service within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of the order copy.

Jayalalithaa, more popularly known as Amma among her supporters, had died in December 2016 while undergoing treatment at the Apollo Hospitals, Chennai for more than 70 days.