Jayalalithaa’s residence Veda Nilayam will be auctioned if tax dues not paid: I-T department tells Madras High Court

Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s Poes Garden residence ‘Veda Nilayam’ in Chennai will be brought to auction if her legal heirs do not settle her income tax as well as wealth tax dues to the tune of ₹13.69 crore with interest, the Income Tax department has told the Madras High Court.

Appearing before Justice C. Saravanan, who was seized of a writ petition filed by Jayalalithaa’s niece J. Deepa against the demand raised by the I-T department, its senior standing counsel A.P. Srinivas said, Veda Nialayam was attached during the lifetime of Jayalalithaa.

He said, the former Chief Minister had to pay arrears of income tax for different assessment years beginning from 1991-92 to 2006-07 and of wealth tax for the assessment years between 1992-93 to 2015-16. He said the I-T department was entitled to recover the arrears with interest.

Since Jayalalithaa had died on December 5, 2016 and the High Court had on May 27, 2020 declared her niece J. Deepa and nephew J. Deepak to be the legal heirs, the I-T department decided to recover the arrears from them and sent intimations on July 13, 2025 and August 4, 2025.

Though Ms. Deepa had approached the High Court challenging the August 4, 2025 communication, Mr. Deepak wrote to the department, through his authorised representative, on August 11, 2025 and sought for extesion of time to pay his share of ₹6.75 crore towards tax arrears, Mr. Srinivas said.

Thereafter, he wrote yet another letter on October 14, 2025 and sought permission to pay the outstanding amount in instalments. The I-T department accepted his request and permitted him to pay ₹6.75 crore in six equated monthly instalments between October 2025 and March 2026.

However, Mr. Deepak paid ₹1.12 crore on October 15, 2025 and November 15, 2025 and of that amount, ₹62.50 lakh was paid by mentioning his PAN number instead of the PAN number of Jayalalithaa. Despite several reminders, he has not corrected it in the challan, the standing counsel complained.

“The attachment of the property (Veda Nilayam) was done during the life time of the assessee Late J. Jayalalithaa. If the arears of tax is not paid by the person who are having interests in the properties of the Late J. Jayalalitha, then the department will proceed against the property by bringing it to auction as per the procedure contemplated under the Income Tax Act,” he told the judge.

After taking note of the submissions, the judge adjourned the hearing on the writ petition filed by Ms. Deepa to February 18, 2026.