Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Plea Against Relocation Of Tomb From Madras High Court Premises

The tomb, situated in the compound of the Madras Law College (now Dr Ambedkar Government Law College) which is part of the high court campus, was declared as a protected monument through a January 1921 notification made in the Fort St. George Gazette.

A bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta issued notice to the Ministry of Culture and others seeking their responses on the plea challenging the April order of the Madras High Court.

"Issue notice, returnable within four weeks," the bench said.

The bench asked Senior Advocate Shyam Divan, who appeared for the petitioner, whether he wanted a stay on the operation of the High Court order.

"I will just say that in so far as this monument is concerned, status quo be preserved," Divan said.

A single judge of the High Court in June 2023 allowed a petition seeking to declare that the tomb in the compound of the college was not an ancient monument.

The plea also sought a consequential direction to relocate the tomb within a particular time frame.

In April, a division bench of the High Court upheld the single judge's order and dismissed the appeals.

The division bench held that the tomb of David Yale, son of the then Governor of Madras from 1687 to 1692 Elihu Yale, and Joseph Hynmer, who was a friend of Elihu Yale, was situated in the college campus.

Elihu Yale, the High Court said, continued as Governor till 1692 and left for England in 1699 and he made generous donation to Connecticut College in USA, which subsequently became Yale University.

The High Court noted neither any material was placed before it nor any argument was advanced to say that the monument was of historical, archaeological or artistic interest except saying that Elihu Yale contributed generously to Connecticut College in USA and later, Yale University established a department of Tamil studies.