Latha Rajinikanth’s school in Guindy shut down

A branch of the Ashram, a popular school run by Latha Rajinikanth, has been shut down.

Sources say the owners of the venue chose to shut down the school at Guindy as the administration had defaulted on payment of rent.

Reports suggest that the children studying in this branch of the Ashram school will now be sent to another branch of the school that is in Velachery.

The owner of the building, Venkateswarulu, while talking to the media, said that they had to resort to the move as the school administration had not paid them rent from 2009 and that the amount that was pending was around Rs 10 crore.

Venkateswarulu  said that when they went to court demanding the pending sum of Rs 10 crore from Latha Rajinikanth, the wife of superstar Rajinikanth, the school administration said it would pay Rs 2 crore as a first instalment. However, they hadn’t paid even that sum. Moreover, the owners say that both sides agreed to a new rent sum of Rs 10 lakhs per month before the judge. However, the owners have alleged that the school administration has been paying the old rent amount.

The school administration, for its part, has denied all claims that the school had been shut because of rent dues not being paid.  At a press conference that was called by the school administration, the lawyer representing the school, Ravichandran, said, “We request the public not to believe what is being said. Rent has been duly paid to the owners.  We plan to file a defamation case against the owners.”

In a statement that the administration later released, it said , “We have been running our school in Guindy for over 10 years.  In recent times, we have been facing a lot of problems from our land owner due to family problems. This has made this issue an extraordinary one as this is not only about rent.

“The land owners have, without reason and in an improper manner, raised the rent to a sum that is more than what we agreed upon. We had not only thought about this issue but had also decided to vacate that premises. Moreover, we are in talks to end this problem.

“We request the media and the public not to believe such false claims and urge them to understand the truth.

“We wish to inform that we will initiate legal action on behalf of the children, parents, teachers and staff of the school who have been affected as a result of the mental trauma caused by the land owners to the Ashram administration. We will also initiate defamation proceedings against the land owners.”