Rs 150 crore land of actors' union in legal tangle

CHENNAI: A controversial proposal to develop an 18-ground property worth 150 crore belonging to the actors' association, Nadigar Sangam, on Habibullah Road in T Nagar, slipped deeper into a legal quagmire, with the Madras high court staying the operation of a lease deed between the office bearers and a multiplex developer.
Justice Vinod Kumar Sharma on Tuesday granted the interim injunction on a civil suit filed by Poochi Murugan and P A Kaja Mohideen."The respondents [office-bearers] have sought time to file a counter. The case is adjourned to December 18. In the meantime, there shall be an interim injunction," the order said.
The Nadigar Sangam Charitable Trust, formed in 1987 to provide assistance to its 3,000 members from the film, drama and television industries, is supposed to have nine members to run its affairs. However, it now has only two members, actor-MLA R Sarathkumar and his brother-in-law Radha Ravi.
In his capacity as general secretary of the sangam, Radha Ravi gave general power of attorney to R Sarathkumar on August 6, 2010. Sarathkumar executed a lease deed in favour of Radha Ravi over the property. On November 25, 2010, they executed a separate lease deed of the property in favour of M/s SPI Cinemas. The proposal was to develop a multiplex at the site for a consideration, which, the present applicants said was too low.
The present suit, alleging lack of transparency and threat to the property belonging to the association, asked the court to restrain the actors as well as the multiplex developer from giving effect to the lease deed and from carrying out any construction at the site.
Last month, while granting leave to file the suit, Justice K Chandru had commented that all was not well with the Nadigar Sangam. He had said: "The fact that one of the two trustees executed a long-term lease deed in favour of the other trustee itself shows that the trust and its property are being grossly mismanaged. All is not well with the way the trust is functioning."