SHAH ALAM: The Selangor government never ordered the demolition of the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in USJ 25, Subang Jaya.
V Ganabatirau, state socio-economic empowerment and development and caring government committee chairman, said four parties, through a consent judgment on March 11, 2014, at the Shah Alam High Court, agreed to the relocation of the temple and to return the vacant site to the owner.
The four parties are the state government; owner of the temple site One City Development Sdn Bhd and two individuals claiming to be the temple administrators, K Chellappa and M Nagaraju, he said.
Chellappa had filed an objection to the move by One City to take back the temple site in 1996.
Ganabatirau said that in the consent judgment, One City agreed to deposit RM1.5 million with the temple, and it is learned that the money had been deposited with the temple’s lawyer.
He also said the state government had given a 0.4ha piece of land, located 3km away, for the relocation of the temple.
Ganabatirau said he believed that the relocation of the temple was politicised by some irresponsible people when the court decided that Chellappa is the valid administrator of the temple.
This decision was not agreed to by Nagaraju who objected to the relocation of the temple and alleged that the state government had ordered the demolition of the house of worship, he said.
“This is not true because the order to relocate the temple came from the court and the state government has to abide by the order,” Ganabatirau said.