Return land and money, temple told

Seafield Mariamman Temple

SHAH ALAM: The Selangor government has asked the management of the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in USJ25 to return a piece of land and compensation money in keeping with a comprehensive settlement being worked out to solve its relocation issue.

Yesterday, Mentri Besar Amirudin Shari asked for the return of the 0.4ha plot of land and RM1.5mil compensation money given by the developer, One City Development Sdn Bhd.

“The Selangor government welcomes the statement by the Attorney General (Tommy Thomas) on the Seafield temple issue and is in agreement with the solution offer­ed, which upholds the principle of the rule of law,” he said.

On Friday, Thomas issued a statement saying that One City Develop­ment Sdn Bhd would transfer the plot of land on which the temple was located to a trust to be administered by the High Court.

He said he would then apply to the High Court under Section 9 of the Government Proceedings Act for the trust to be constituted and for trustees to be appointed to manage both the trust and the temple.

Thomas said the High Court would then be invited to appoint a receiver who, as an officer of the court, would have control and direction over the trustees subject to the court’s supervision.

He said the High Court would later be invited to transfer the ownership of the land on which the temple was situated to the trustees.

Thomas said to ensure impartiality and neutrality among the various groups in the temple, he hoped to be represented in all the applications before the High Court.

On Friday, One City Development Sdn Bhd said it supported the settlement put forth by Thomas.

The dispute over the temple land turned violent when riots broke out on Nov 26 and 27 with several people hurt and vehicles burnt.

In a consent judgment on March 11, 2014, at the Shah Alam High Court, One City Develop­ment agreed to deposit RM1.5mil with the temple. The state government had handed over a 0.4ha plot of land, located about 3km, for the temple’s relocation. — Bernama