more-in The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday allowed a petition filed by the Meenakshi Sundareswarar Koil Kadaikarargal Sangam which sought a direction to permit its members to open their shops at Amman Sannithi (51 shops) till December 31. Justice M.S. Ramesh, hearing the plea, directed the petitioners to give an undertaking to the Joint Commissioner/Executive Officer of the temple that they would vacate the premises by December 31 and pay outstanding rent, if any, to the temple. The High Court Bench had earlier directed that all shops on the temple premises must be vacated. However, the court granted time till December 31 so that the shopkeepers could find an alternative site to set up shops. The shopkeepers, in their petition, said they had been carrying out trade on the temple premises for many decades and were also paying rent for the same. They were selling puja articles, artificial jewellery and religious books. They sought permission to carry out trade till December 31 as per the court’s order as their income depended on it. They said that they had filed an undertaking in this regard and would vacate the premises by December 31. Following the fire accident that engulfed the eastern wing of Meenakshi temple, the government, in a bid to improve safety measures across temples in the State, directed shops located on the temple premises be evicted. The High Court Bench heard a number of petitions, representing various shrines from across the State, seeking an alternative site to set up shops, as a remedy. The court granted time for the shopkeepers, taking into account that time was needed to vacate the premises and they were dependent on the trade for their livelihood.

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