The shops occupying the temple property near the Rajagopuram of the Ranganathar Swamy Temple in Srirangam were removed by court order after 40 years of encroachment. Various commercial vendors and hawkers had occupied the four-foot halls in front of the Rajagopuram of the Ranganathaswamy Temple and ran shops.
In the year 2018, a fire broke out in the shops operating in the Vasantha Raayar Hall at the Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai. Following this, the Department of HR&CE decided not to allow the use of temple property for commercial purposes. On this basis, all the barriers that had been in place in the halls inside and outside the temples were removed.
In that regard, the HR&CE Department issued a notice to the shop owners to vacate the shops which were functioning in the property of the Srirangam Ranganathaswamy Temple. But those who have been running their shops in the temple property for years had appealed to the court against this.
The case, which came up for hearing in the Madurai branch of the Madras High Court, ruled that the shops were operating in the temple property which was several hundred years old, was damaging the architectural significance of the property and that it was right to order the shops to be vacated as it was the duty of the authorities to protect them. The court dismissed the petition of the traders, pointing out that these pillars on the property, which were built several hundred years ago, were not built for commercial purpose.
It also ordered the shops to be vacated by May 30. The HR&CE Department was in the process of removing the structures that occupied the halls and erected the last day on Monday, as the merchants did not vacate the shops.
Officers removed 3 shops operating in two halls located on Amma Mandapam Road and erected a fence around the halls.
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