Batu Caves Sri Maha Mariamman Temple chairperson R Nadarajah has been given seven days from today to answer an affidavit on an application that he should be sacked from heading the temple's management committee.

The High Court in Kuala Lumpur gave Nadarajah the deadline after rejecting his appeal for an extension of time when the matter came up for case management today.

High Court senior assistant registrar N Arun Dass made the order today after turning down the application from Nadarajah's lawyers for an extension beyond the 21-day period.

G Rajasingam and R Aswath, who appeared for Nadarajah (left), had applied for more time on grounds that the affidavit filed by lawyer M Manoharan was incomplete and that the three newspaper articles used in the affidavit were in Tamil and had to be translated.

Lawyer P Uthayakumar, who is appearing for Manoharan, said

he admitted the articles should be in English or Bahasa Malaysia but despite this the court dismissed the extension request pointing out  the two parties and senior assistant registrar were all Tamil literate.

"Following this, Nadarajah has to answer to our application within the stipulated time. Initially the defendant was required to reply in 14 days from the application being served but according to court rules, this has been extended to 21 days.

"This means that Nadarajah's application for an extension has been rejected and it has to be filed within the stipulated period."

Thaipusam concern

Manoharan filed an application  last month  seeking for Nadarajah - who manages 19 properties for the temple said to be worth RM2 billion - to be sacked for failing in his duties.

Manoharan - the former Kota Alam Shah assemblyperson - in his originating summons wants Nadarajah to be relieved of his duties as he believes the temple committee chairperson has failed to administer the organisation as a “charitable, cultural, religious and educational trust”.

Nadarajah has also abused his powers as chairperson for about 30 years, Manoharan claimed.

“We want to stop him from being a signatory to the temple's cheques, that his sons do not succeed him and that the Thaipusam religious event next year is not led by him,” the former Internal Security Act (ISA) detainee said.

The suit was filed through fellow ISA detainee Uthayakumar’s legal firm.

Manoharan told reporters outside the court he was concerned that Nadarajah was turning Thaipusam into a carnival, which is wrong for devotees attending a religious event.

“It is wrong for places of worship to have a carnival-like atmosphere,” he said.

Uthayakumar claimed there were also concerns that an eight-acre Hindu cemetery in Setapak was being redeveloped for commercial purposes when it should be maintained as burial ground.