Latha Rajinikanth backed school given time till April 30 to vacate disputed Guindy campus 

The Madras High Court has asked Latha Rajinikanth to make sure that the Guindy campus of the Ashram school is vacated by April 30. Latha Rajinikanth, wife of the South Indian Superstar Rajinikanth, is the Secretary of the Sri Raghavendra Education Association which runs the school, reported OneIndia Tamil. A case was filed a few years back for non-payment of rent amounting to Rs 2 crore for the land owned by Venkateswaralu and Poornachandra Rao, said the report. 

Sri Raghavendra Education Association, in a statement, said that the court has extended the deadline to April 30, 2021 and asked them not to admit students for the current year in the current premises. "We can admit students for the next academic year in the new premises as there is no bar on admitting students," read the statement. "We are making all endevours to identify a suitable location keeping in mind the best interests of the students and will abide by the assurance given by us to the court," it further added. 

The landowners had filed a case with the Madras High Court in 2014 seeking an order to force them to pay the rent arrears till March 2013, said reports. The school gates were reportedly sealed since then and around 300 students studying in the school were shifted to another branch of the school. The school did reopen following orders from the High Court in 2017 but the issue continued — the school management and the owners had reached an amicable settlement on August 3, 2018, and it was decided that they would vacate the premises by April 3, 2020.

But a petition was filed on behalf of Latha Rajinikanth seeking an extension for vacating citing the pandemic as the reason for the delay. The court had earlier observed that there was an agreement in the contract to vacate the place and the monthly rent was fixed by DTS. Lata Rajinikanth's party argued that Rs 8 lakh, including the amount, was being paid regularly and therefore the moratorium should be extended till the end of this academic year. The judge has extended the deadline to April 2021.