madurai the madras high court on thursday ordered status quo to be maintained with regard to shifting of 60 shops from pudhumandapam to kunnathur chathiram in madurai till final orders are passed by the authorities on a representation submitted by the traders associationjustice abdul quddhose directed the executive officer of meenakshi sundareswarar temple to consider and pass orders on merits and in accordance with law within one month on the representation submitted by the madurai pudhumandapam south and north side shop owners association seeking not to shift the members of their association from pudhu mandapamthe court passed the order while disposing of the petition filed by m abdul kadar president of the association the petitioner stated that the authorities are attempting to shift the shops to kunnathur chathiram which lacks basic facilities and adequate spacehe stated that the members of the association submitted a representation to the hr and ce department seeking to permit them to continue to run their business from pudhu mandapam however without considering the same the temple authorities are attempting to shift the 60 shopshence the petitioner moved the hc madurai bench during the course of hearing the counsels for the state madurai corporation and meenakshi sundareswarar temple submitted that many shops were already shifted from pudhumandapam to kunnathur chathiram the counsels submitted that the members of the petitioners association were also members of the pudhu mandapam viyabarigal mattrum thaiyal thozilalargal sangam only to circumvent the earlier order passed by the court on february 21 the present petition has been filed their lease period had expired long back and they cannot seek any protection from the court the counsels submitted