: Madras High Court Bench today recorded affidavit by 10 shopkeepers, who had taken shop space on lease on the elephant corridor of Dhandayuthapaniswamy temple at Palani, to vacate before April 17 and directed officials to file a compliance report by Apr 21.
Justices V Ramasubramanian and V M velumani, who fixed March 14 deadline for the shopkeepers to vacate the shops, said the compliance report should be submitted to the court.
The shopkeepers had been occupying the sides of the hilly pathway leading to the temple in Dindigul district for the past 14 years, though their lease period had expired in 2000.
They had vacated an interim stay granted by another Division Bench in favour of the shop owners in January.
The judges also directed the petitioners to file an affidavit in the court by tomorrow, giving an undertaking to vacate the shops within 30 days.
The Judges said the shopkeepers had lost the legal battle in 2000 itself when the High Court rejected their plea to continue the lease.The court had given them 45 days to vacate. Taking advantage of the time,they had continued for nearly 14 years.
The bench noted that counsel for the petitioners had even now sought 30 dys' time to vacate the shops and said "This only reminds us of the proverb - once bitten, twice shy."
To ensure that shop owners vacate this time without hoodwinking the court, the judge ordered them to swear it would be done in an affidavit.
He recorded the submission of counsel for the temple, K. Govindarajan, that after the completion of the 45 day period granted by the court in 2000, the temple management had issued notices to the shopkeepers.
But they had dragged the issue by filing several petitions before the statutory authorities concerned before approaching the court with the present writ petition.
