Well before the Supreme Court in August 2016 held, in the context of Uttar Pradesh, that former Chief Ministers did not have the right to occupy government accommodation for lifetime, Tamil Nadu had been having a healthy tradition of Chief Ministers using their private residences, while being in power or out of power.

In the last 10 years, only O. Panneerselvam and Edappadi K. Palaniswami, as Chief Ministers, had used the government-provided accommodation as they did not have houses of their own in Chennai. Mr. Palaniswami, after being an occupant of the government accommodation for 15 years (as Minister, CM and Leader of Opposition), recently shifted his residence to a private property in Royapettah, Chennai. Never has there been any controversy surrounding former Chief Ministers for accommodation.