Textile traders want shops to function till festival on Gani market premises in Salem

Erode Gani Market Traders Assoc. seeks time till Deepavali to run biz on vacated premises; HC to hear case Thurs.

 Erode Gani Market Dinasari Anaithu Siru Javuli Viyabarigal Sangam (Erode Gani Market Daily All Small Textile Traders Association) has moved the Madras High Court seeking time till Deepavali to run their business on the market premises they had vacated based on the recent court’s order. 

Over 1,000 textile shops, both weekly and daily, were functioning on the market premises for 45 years and the civic body had in 2019 began constructing the modernised textile hub with 262 shops on the premises. Traders, who wanted priority to be given to them in allocation of shops in the new building, opposed auctioning of shops. But the Corporation said the shops would be allotted only through general auctioning. 

The traders filed a case in the Madras High Court and the court, in its order, asked 106 traders to vacate the shops, while the civic body asked another 134 traders to vacate the shops. A total of 240 shopkeepers vacated the shops last week. 

The association filed a writ application in the court seeking direction to the Secretary to Government to allow them to run their shops till Deepavali as they would lose their livelihood. The case was heard on August 29 and was posted for next hearing on Thursday.