madurai the madurai bench of the madras high court on thursday turned down the request of shopkeepers at the veera vasantharayar mandapam in sri meenakshi sundareswarar temple not to evict them and asked them to vacate by friday noon the court was hearing a petition filed by the shopkeepers association president s rajunagulu against the temple joint commissioners move to evict them however the shopkeepers may keep their articles for the next three weeks at the place identified by the temple authority the bench said the petitioner said that the association had 115 shopkeepers as members including 22 people selling flowers the shopkeepers were not encroachers as it was the temple authority which allotted shops for which they were paying rent though the team constituted to probe the fire accident was yet to declare its causes it had been blamed on electrical short circuit he said fire accident took place due to electrical short circuit the hrce which is receiving rs 2 lakh as rent per month has not spent money on the safety of the temple and public health had the temple authority appointed more electricians the fire accident could have been averted it appointed only one watchman and electrician to maintain the temple premises during night even the electrician was not available when the fire was notified in order to escape from the liability the hrce is trying to evict the shopkeepers the petition said when the case came up for hearing before justice v bharathidasan the petitioners counsel said that the temple authority could shift the shopkeepers only by following due process of law which was not being done special government pleader sgp v r shanmuganathan said that 42 of the 115 shops inside the temple were at the veera vasantharayar mandapam where the fire broke out there was continuous demand to evict the shops which the authority would require three months to decide meantime the shops could not be allowed in vasantharayar mandam as debris kept falling and they had to clearedas the petitioners counsel sought time to vacate the sgp said that the temple authority was ready to identify a place where the shopkeepers may house their articles following this the judge said that the shopkeepers had to be very careful questioning the sale of plastic and other articles in shops the court ordered the shopkeepers to vacate the shop by noon on friday the court adjourned the case by three weeks