Ex-royal family to hand over 1,100 acres of land to MP govt

NEW DELHI: A 51-year-old land ownership case between the former royal family of Indore and the Madhya Pradesh government over 1,100 acres of prime city land ended this week with the Supreme Court ruling in favour of the state.

A two-judge Supreme Court bench set aside a Madhya Pradesh High Court order in favour of the family, saying the former royals could not raise the dispute after they had signed an agreement with the government of India on May 7, 1949 when the princely state merged with the dominion of India. In the agreement, the Maharaja had listed out his personal property for private use and the disputed land was never a part of the list, the court held.

The battle for the ownership of the property began in 1964 when Maharani Usha Devi, former Indore royal Maharaja Yashwant Rao Holkar’s daughter, moved a civil court to declare her the rightful landlord after the collector issued a notice to her to hand over possession of the land. She lost the case in the district court in 2001, prompting her to go to the Madhya Pradesh High Court which ruled in her favour in August 2010.

“The ratio laid down by this court makes one to understand that prior to the covenant, the ownership of all the properties remains vested with the ruler, but once the covenant is entered into, the government takes over all the properties except those which the government recognises as private properties of the ruler,” the top court held.

State counsel CD Singh told HT the land belonged to the state as the agreement between the government of India and the Maharaja did not declare this land as his personal property. “There is a constitutional bar on courts of this country to entertain disputes arising out of the agreement and the legal heir in this case had exactly done this,” he said.

The market value of the land is worth `3,000 crore, Singh said.

The ratio laid down by the court makes one understand that prior to the covenant, the ownership of all the properties remains vested with the ruler, but once the covenant is entered into, the govt takes over all properties except those recognises as private properties of the ruler.

SUPREME COURT, in its ruling