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Retd prof seeks end to royalties for Mysore ‘maharaja’, moves SC
NEW DELHI: A retired professor from Mysore University has moved the Supreme Court, seeking directions to the Karnataka government to stop the release of royalty
NEW DELHI: A retired professor from Mysore University has moved the Supreme Court, seeking directions to the Karnataka government to stop the release of royalty and honorarium to former ‘maharajas’ that continues despite the Centre abolishing the privy purse and special status to them.
PV Nanjaraja Urs petitioned the top court against the Karnataka HC’s order that refused to look into his demand. He claimed that the HC rejected his petition in October last year without hearing him at length and without considering the fact that the government had withdrawn special status granted to royal families in 1971.
In response to his queries made under the RTI law, Urs learnt that the state released 75 lakh between 2012 -2014 as part of its “kind cooperation” for the “Dasara festival” activities. But, the state did not part with any other information.
Urs also demanded the state take immediate possession of the Golden Throne and Golden Howda (seat kept on the elephant’s back while riding it) from the family’s custody. In 1998, the Karnataka government enacted a law — which came into force on November 3, 1998 — to acquire Mysore Palace. Although a plea challenging the law is pending before the HC, Urs said the artefacts in the palace legally belong to the state.
“…It is very much clear and admitted that both the Golden Throne (Rathna Simhasana) and Golden Howda (Ambari) are in possession of the respondent (queen), even though it was legally acquired under the Mysore Palace Acquisition Act,” Urs said in his petition, which will be heard on August 26. He also referred to several letters written in 1975 and 1976 by the then maharaja of Mysore to the government with an appeal to maintain the historical palace, which had become a “difficult task for the royalty”.
On receiving the letters, the government passed an order in 1976 acquiring the assets, except the portion of the palace where the royal family lives. However, the throne and howda are not in the list of articles with the government.
