HUNDREDS of devotees turned up to stop eviction of the Seafield Sri Mahamariamman Temple Subang Jaya following a court order that was issued in favour of the landowner.



The 146-year-old temple was asked to relocate to a nearby location in Putra Heights about 2.7km away after the temple committee entered into a consent judgment with the landowner.



However, devotees, who turned up as early as 6am at the temple located along Damansara-Puchong Highway (LDP), are protesting the decision made by the temple committee to make the move to Putra Heights.



According to Nagaraju Meganathan, whose grandfather built the temple, when he first agreed to the consent judgement, the 0.4ha plot of land allocated as the new site was located right behind the temple.

They were supposed to relocate in 2015, but Nagaraju said he refused to do so back then because the land was not gazetted as per the clause in the consent judgement.



When they later received the land title, they found that it was a 99-year leasehold land and that it was on a Tenaga Nasional Bhd reserve.



However, the committee was agreeable with the new alternative site offered.



On May 18, 2017 the temple was issued an eviction notice which expired yesterday, with the expected move not having materialised because of the opposition among some of the devotees.



The demonstration against the relocation was led by several community leaders, including Malaysian Indian Education Transformation Association chairman Elangovan Annamalai, Malaysian Indian Progressive Association president Rajaretinam Armuggan, Hindu Sevai Sangam founder Shri Ramaji and National Public Complaints and Welfare Service Centre chairman Datuk A. Chandrakumanan.

The community leaders said the temple should not be relocated due to its historical, cultural and religious links.



They added the temple had the sacred Ara tree, known as the Arasamaram in Tamil, that was gazetted 20 years ago by the Selangor Forestry department as a 125-year-old tree.



Elangovan said the devotees were not consulted before the decision was made by the temple committee.