The first session of the Tamil Nadu Assembly since AIADMK swept to power unseating DMK in a landslide victory, will commence here on May 23 at the old seat of power, the Fort St George.
The 14th Legislative Assembly will begin its session with members taking oath at the old secretariat Assembly chamber, which is being spruced up at a feverish pace.
A classical Tamil library, whose setting up was overseen by DMK president and former chief minister M. Karunanidhi himself, is being shifted to pave way for the MLAs to resume duties at this historic hall.
Even before coming to power, chief minister J. Jayalalithaa had vowed not to step into the new Assembly-
secretariat complex, a pet project of Karunanidhi, whose estimates have touched around Rs 1,000 crores.
The AIADMK general secretary had criticised the design and aesthetics of the new structure at the nearby
omandurar government estate, calling it a "circus tent".
On the concluding day of the 13th Assembly, the then AIADMK deputy legislature leader O. Panneerselvam, now finance minister, had emphatically declared that his leader Jayalalithaa would not only storm back to power but also set her seat of power in the 17th century St George Fort.
The Madras high court had on Wednesday ordered notice to Tamil Nadu chief minister, the chief secretary and public works secretary on a PIL petition seeking an interim injunction to prevent the state government from shifting the state secretariat and Assembly from the complex built by previous DMK government to Fort St George.
The election of Speaker and deputy Speaker is scheduled for May 27 and the governor would address the
Assembly on June 3, Assembly secretary A.M.P Jamaludeen said in an official release on Thursday.