Reprieve for temple may be short-lived after all

PETALING JAYA: The reprieve on the relocation of the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman Temple may be short-lived should the developer get its way next week when it files to strike out the application for an injunction by the devotees.

The lawyer for One City Development Sdn Bhd, Claudia Cheah, said her client had told the judge that it was filing the application to strike out the injunction.

Yesterday, Shah Alam High Court Judge Wong Kian Kheong met both parties to confirm that he did not grant an interim injunction to the plaintiffs following confusion.

The temple committee chairman M. Ramachandran and 49 others had earlier sought the injunction to stop work on Nov 21 against seven defendants, including former temple committee chairman K. Chellapa, One City and the Selangor government.

On Thursday, the developer had given an undertaking to the court that it would preserve the temple as it is until the hearing of the application of the injunction on Jan 11 next year.

“The judge clarified that if the plaintiffs’ action is struck out before Jan 11, the undertaking given by One City will lapse,” said Cheah.

Lawyer for the plaintiffs T. Rajasekaran said the undertaking by the developer meant the temple must remain where it was until Jan 11.

“The developer cannot execute the writ of possession until then, including come near or disturb the temple,” he said.

Rajasekaran said they had already expected the developer to try to strike out their application.

“We are quite sure we can overcome that,” he said.

The temple, which is more than a century old, is locked in a battle between the committee and the developer that owns the land it stands on.

The owner wants the land for development while the temple committee and its devotees want the place of worship to remain at its current location.