A Tottering HouseOf Stars

According to Chennai Metropolitan Development Agency (CMDA) rules, a building in this area can’t have more than ground plus three floors. On May 30, the corporation served a notice asking the builders to demolish the top four floors in 12 hours. Ironically, neither the CMDA nor the CC had raised objections while processing the application for the eight-storeyed building in a narrow lane. When the builders didn’t act, the corporation began the demolition. Sridevi has obtained a stay from the Madras High Court. Family politics seems to have played a role in the sordid affair. Sridevi’s sister is married to an ex-AIADMK MLA and they seemed to be locked in a property dispute. So, the ex-MLA, still influential, was quick to get things moving against Sridevi.

Even former CM M. Karunanidhi’s new house, a few blocks away in the same colony, has run into trouble. DMK councillors allege there’s been deliberate delay in issuing a ‘no objection’ certificate and electricity connection to the new house under the pretext that the construction is not in accordance with the plan. Not just that, his old Gopalapuram residence has also come under the corporation scanner for a violation allegedly committed in 1969. Karunanidhi says he will legally fight the corporation’s move to delay the issuance of a "completion certificate" to his new house.