Justice Roslan Mat Nor, who granted the ex-parte injunction last Friday, also directed Raman, a restaurant owner, to call for an extraordinary general meeting within 30 days of July 19 to elect the temple’s remaining office bearers.

Allowing the application filed on July 3, Roslan also issued an order restraining former temple chairman K Tamil Selven, a defendant in the suit, from interfering in the management of the temple and removing any property.

He also ordered five other defendants named in the suit who conducted the election – N Subramaniam, M Puspanathan, M Davendran, M Darmakounder and G Arikrishnan – to declare Raman the new president.

Lawyer S Selvam, who appeared for Raman, said an inter-partes hearing of the injunction application would be held on Aug 6.

In his statement of claim, Raman said he had secured 250 votes to defeat Tamil Selven for the top post in an election conducted on June 23.

However, Tamil Selven, who secured 206 votes, prevented Raman from being declared the winner.

Three officers from the Registrar of Societies validated Raman’s win after a recount conducted the following day.

Raman claimed outsiders were brought in to disrupt the election and destroy the ballot box.

However, Raman said he and his supporters managed to move the box to the Sungai Jerik police station in Maran for safekeeping.

He said the five other defendants had refused to declare Raman the new temple president.

Raman said the obstacles placed by the first defendant and the failure of the other defendants to conduct the election meant that the remaining positions on the committee continue to be vacant.

“As a result, there is no committee to manage the temple now,” he said.

The 132-year-old octagon-shaped temple attracts some 500,000 Hindu devotees during the annual Panguni Uthiram festival between March and April.