Maharaja Karni Singh's Heir Prefers Appeal Before Delhi High Court Seeking Rent Arrears For Bikaner House

Heir of Late Maharaja Dr. Karni Singh, the last one to hold the title of Maharaja of Bikaner, on Tuesday moved the Delhi High Court seeking arrears of rent from Central Government for the Bikaner House property in the national capital.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela heard the appeal challenging a single judge order passed on February 24, which dismissed the petition seeking the relief.

The appeal has been filed by estate of Maharaja Dr Karni Singh of Bikaner. Before the single judge, the plea was filed through the daughter of late Maharaja.

Senior Advocate Jayant Mehta appeared for the appellant and submitted that the impugned order was bad in law and that the single judge did not consider the material on record which it ought to have done.

During the hearing, the Bench questioned Mehta about filing of a writ petition in the matter instead of a civil suit.

“You are seeking a writ of mandamus. Writ is available in case of failure of public authority in discharge of statutory duties. Non payment of rent etc, can it amount to performance of statutory duty?” CJ asked Mehta.

The judge added: “Can a mandamus be issued in such circumstances? Institute a suit. The single judge findings will not come in your way if you file a suit.”

To this, Mehta responded that there was no factual dispute in the matter and that if the State has been wrongfully withholding the money, a writ would lie.

The Court then asked the appellant as well as the Central Government to place on record certain documents concerning the dispute as well as the suit filed by the State of Rajasthan, including orders passed therein.

The Bench further directed the appellant to serve a copy of the appeal to the standing counsel for the State of Rajasthan to ensure presence of the State in the matter.

The case will now be heard on July 17.

Rejecting the plea, the single judge had said that the heir failed to establish any legal right over Bikaner House property nor had she demonstrated any legal right in respect of any alleged “arrears of rent” from the Union Government.

After the integration of princely states into the Indian Dominion, Bikaner House was taken on lease by the Centre from Rajasthan Government and Maharaja Karni Singh in 1950. As per the arrangement, 67% of the rent was to be paid to the Government of Rajasthan while 33% was allocated to the Maharaja Karni Singh.

In 1951, the Government of India communicated that one-third of the rent from the property would be released to the Maharaja's Estate. Payments were made regularly until 1986 to the Government of Rajasthan and until 1991 to Late Maharaja.

After the Maharaja's death in 1991, the petitioner daughter requested the release of rent in four equal instalments for the legal heirs. It was her case that since the said representation, the Centre had stopped making the payment to her.

In 2014, the Supreme Court directed the Centre to vacate Bikaner House after a suit was filed by Rajasthan Government. The keys of the property were handed over to the officials of the latter thereafter. The plea stated that despite the vacation of the premises, the arrears of rent from October 1991 to December 2014 remained unpaid and the No Dues Certificate (NOC) was still not issued by the Rajasthan Government.

The single judge had said that the Rajasthan Government holds full and absolute rights over Bikaner House and that the daughter's claim was based on a 1951 letter which indicated that the Centre agreed to grant one-third of the rent to her on an “ex gratia” basis.

The Court had said that ex gratia payments are discretionary and are not enforceable as a matter of legal right. Such payments are made voluntarily by the paying party and cannot be claimed as an entitlement, it had added.

Title: ESTATE OF MAHARAJA DR KARNI SINGHJI OF BIKANER THROUGH EXECUTRIX v. UNION OF INDIA AND ANR