Lawyers Ambiga Sreenevasan and N Surendran said it was “public knowledge” that the land on which the Dewi Sri Pathrakaliamman Temple stands was sold by Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to Jakel Trading Sdn Bhd.

“We are reliably informed that the sales and purchase agreement contains provisions and information relevant to the rights and status of the temple which is situated upon that land,” Ambiga and Surendran said in a statement today.

They said disclosing the agreement would allow the full facts of the sale to be disclosed to the public so that it could be scrutinised.

“We have good grounds to believe that the release of the agreement may substantially assist towards achieving a resolution of the current situation, in addition to ensuring public accountability and transparency in regards to the sale of government land to a private entity,” they said.

The land occupied by the temple is about the size of four tennis courts. The temple occupies a third of the space, while the rest is a car park.

On Thursday, Jakel Trading’s legal head, Aiman Dazuki, said the company had acquired the land in 2012 and received permission in 2021 to begin constructing a mosque there, but had delayed the process “out of respect” for the process of relocating the temple.

He also said it was not possible to build the mosque without relocating the temple as the land was not large enough. He said the firm had agreed to pay for the cost of the temple’s relocation.

On Saturday, Batu MP P Prabakaran said the temple was relocated to its current site in 2008 at the request of the government, when responding to claims that the temple was built by devotees at the current site off Jalan Masjid India even though the land did not belong to them.