A PIL petition was filed on Tuesday in the Madras high court seeking to forbid the Tamil Nadu government from shifting the state secretariat and assembly from the complex built by the previous Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam government to Fort St George.
The petition also sought an interim injunction restraining the authorities from shifting the state secretariat and the legislative assembly from the present location.
Petitioner G Krishnamurthy, an advocate, submitted that the DMK government built the new assembly-cum-secretariat complex in the Omandarur government estate off Anna Salai at a cost of over Rs 1,000 crore.
He said media reports suggested that the new All India Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam government was "adamant" on abandoning the new complex and revert to the old complex at Fort St George.
The petitioner claimed the shift was not on the basis of any government decision but due to the preference of AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha and the leaders of the coalition which won the recent assembly elections.
The chief secretary and the public secretary should explain under what authority they had decided to shift the secretariat and assembly, he submitted.
The petitioner contended that the 'decision' to shift the secretariat and the assembly was illegal, unauthorised, against public interest and unmindful of the huge expenditure of money already spent.
The Public Interest Litigation is likely to come up for hearing on Wednesday.
Replying to a question from reporters on Monday, Jayalalithaa had said the Cabinet would take a decision on the fate of the new assembly-secretariat complex soon.
