A member of the Mysore Royal Family chronicles the long history of property disputes between the Karnataka Government and the Mysore Royal Family

By R. Raja Chandra – [Member of erstwhile Mysore Royal Family]

As usual, as per post-dinner pastime, I was skimming through the online version of Star of Mysore to catch up with local stories.

Two recent news reports on the ongoing shenanigans about Bangalore Palace caught my attention.

One report said Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council and senior BJP leader Chalavadi Narayanaswamy has accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of targeting the erstwhile Royal Family of Mysore due to Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar’s affiliation with the BJP. He questioned whether the CM would have taken similar action if Yaduveer was a Congress MP.

The second report said members of the Urs Community feel, “The members of the Royal Family are being subjected to unethical actions and harassment, forcing them to spend their lives in the Law Courts. If this continues, people from across the State will come together to launch a movement.” Memories came flooding as my mind jagged back to the happenings of the nightmare of the decade of 1980s and 1990s when this political vendetta unfolded.

 As a youngster, still in his early 30s Prince Srikantadatta Narasimharaja (SDNR) Wadiyar had jumped into the cesspool of politics after the tragic death of PM Indira Gandhi in 1984. A bolt from the blue call from Arun Nehru catapulted SDNR Wadiyar as an MP from Mysore during elections held in Dec. 1984.

He immediately paid the political price. A piqued Janata Government headed by Ramakrishna Hegde foisted land acquisition proceedings against both Bangalore and Mysore Palaces in 1986. Court room battles became order of the day. Not to be left behind, there were multiple proceedings under Estate Duty and Wealth Tax and Urban Land Ceiling Act to manage.

Private litigations to wrest control over Bangalore Palace was adding to the nightmare one lived. Despite all this, SDNR Wadiyar was able to win a second term as an MP in 1989 as Indian politics entered the quixotic coalition era and as Prime Minister Chandrashekhar resigned in June 1991 and elections had to be held once again.

 Whether you call it intuition or faith in astrology, SDNR Wadiyar strangely had an inkling of the disaster. He personally told former PM Rajiv Gandhi about the danger to his life if an election is called. He begged him to avoid south during campaign.

Move after hectic parleys

As was expected, his warning was laughed at and brushed away. (I think KBG had written about this episode after the death of SDNR Wadiyar) Wadiyar resigned from Congress and had made up his mind to join BJP at the behest of Rajamatha of Gwalior.

 In those days when landlines were still the only mode of communication, my phone became unusually active in political circles. A call from PMO no less. PMO wanted me to convince SDNR Wadiyar to join his Samajwadi Janata Party and promised Rs. 1 crore+ resolution to his tax problems.

Soon, one Deepak called from Deputy PM Devi Lal’s office for the same reason but the offer was Rs. 2 crore. In the midst of all, our own son of the soil was also keen to take SDNR Wadiyar in his fledgling political party and was camped in Mysore to meet Wadiyar.

I vividly remember that day — 17th April 1991. An early morning knock on my door. As I opened the door, whom did you see. Ambarish!

He had come as an emissary of Rajiv Gandhi. He wanted me to stop SDNR Wadiyar from joining any other party. In return, the party promised resolution to all his property disputes.

Coincidently, SDNR Wadiyar had arrived from Mysore the previous night and was staying in my house. I had no other choice but to wake him up and left the scene for the old friends                              to confabulate.

Vendetta politics

In the end, nothing could entice a stubborn Wadiyar. It is to the eternal credit of SDNR Wadiyar, he never used politics to resolve his personal problems.  The same evening, he joined BJP at National College Grounds, Bengaluru, in the presence of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It did create political ripples as Wadiyar campaigned throughout the State. But as predicted by him Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991.  Though BJP won in as many as three seats, SDNR Wadiyar lost.

It was the turn of Congress Government headed by S. Bangarappa to unleash vendetta politics now. In April 1992, the Cabinet quickly drafted the Bangalore Palace (Acquisition & Transfer) Ordinance, 1992 to take over the Palace immediately for Rs. 11 crore.

The Ordinance was sent to the then Governor, Kurshid Alam Khan, a veteran Congressman. P.V. Narasimha Rao was the PM. Despite the grave threat, none of us tried to meet the Governor. Yet to the profound credit of the Governor, he rose above politics and refused the sign the Ordinance as under Article 213 (1)(c), it required the assent of the President.

The State Government had no choice but to send the Ordinance to the Centre for the assent of the President. Even the Home Ministry did not approve the Ordinance despite pressure from the State Governments headed by Bangarappa and M. Veerappa Moily.

Hurriedly piloted Bill

In the intervening period, the State Government tried to hasten proceedings under the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act (ULC) to wrest control over all the major properties of the royal family. K.J. George was the Urban Development Minister then. C. Shivappa (later Justice) was the Advocate General. But once again, High Court came to the rescue and stayed further proceedings to vest the properties in Sept 1992.

 Alas! One more Assembly election and H.D. Deve Gowda became the CM in Dec. 1994 and bête noire like Siddaramaiah were calling the shots.  As the repeal of the ULC was in the offing, the Ordinance was junked and instead, a Bill was hurriedly piloted in both the Houses in March 1996.

The Bill was sent to the Centre for assent once again. As a quirk of fate would have it, our very own son of the soil was catapulted to the gaddi of PM in June 1996. To our utter misfortune, Presidential Assent followed in November 1996.

The unusual case of a CM, who piloted the Bill, becoming PM to recommend to the President to assent the same Bill, was a failure of the Constitutional checks and balances never envisaged by the Constituent Assembly. Even the challenge to the Act was brushed aside in double quick time.

Every dark cloud has a silver lining and the Supreme Court admitted the Special Leave Petition (SLP) in April 1997 and as the few related Constitutional issues were before a Nine-Judge Bench, the appeals had to perforce await judgement in that case. Now that this issue is finally decided in Nov. 2024, things will have to be finally decided in the normal course.

 In all these intervening periods from 1997 to 2025 (28 long years) SDNR Wadiyar and two of his sisters have left us. There have been many untold pinpricks by the Governments of the day and tax recovery officers threatening to attach our moveable and immovable assets for Wealth Tax dues of the very same Palaces which the State wants to expropriate for a farthing. Probably with the sole exception of S.M. Krishna, all CMs of all political hues have done their vicious best to add to our misery one way or the other.

TDR for 15 acres of Palace land

Take the much-publicised issue of Transferable Development Rights (TDR) for 15 acres of Bangalore Palace lands for road widening.

TDR as a concept was introduced way back in 2005 and many important roads were identified. When the Kempegowda International Airport at Devanahalli opened for operation in 2008, traffic increased by manifold on the Ballari Road and Jayamahal Road.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) itself wrote to us seeking the surrender of the Palace lands on these roads immediately in lieu of TDR.

But once the land was surrendered, there was a flip-flop and the matter went to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court ordered the issue of TDR. This was in November 2014. In the intervening period of 2014 to 2024, Karnataka has seen six CMs belonging to all the three major parties. Yet the road was not widened and the TDR remained elusive.

There were many flip-flops on whether the road should be widened or not. The naked and obvious reason for the dithering was the fact that TDR’s encashable amount as compared to the pittance the 1996 Act offered. This left us no other choice but to file Contempt of Court proceedings for brazenly ignoring the orders of the Apex Court.

Subverting the Constitution

The Supreme Court, after hearing the host of analogous petitions filed from 2021 to 2024, ultimately told the State to either comply or face the music. This appears to have infuriated both the bureaucrats and their political bosses in no uncertain terms.

With a leading ‘Senior Advocate’ advising them on how to subvert the Constitution and Court orders (Yes! The very same mandarins who flash the Constitution book at every available political forum!), they have taken the Ordinance route to subvert the Court orders.

When the Ordinance titled “The Bangalore Palace (Utilisation and Regulation of Land) Ordinance, 2025” was forwarded to the Governor, one thought he would emulate the example set by the then Governor Kurshid Alam Khan in 1992. Alas. It was wishful thinking. All that remains is to test the wisdom of the State’s decision once again by knocking the doors of the Apex Court.

Maybe there is an element of truth in what Chalavadi Narayanaswamy or the members of the Urs community say. But they are voices in the wilderness. This reminds of what the last Maharaja of Mysore, H.H. Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar, said in an interview with Anees Jung which appeared in the ‘Illustrated Weekly of India”, May 20, 1973 issue:

“But I have never wanted to get into politics. It is the last refuge of the scoundrels… If I may twist that phrase of Dr. Johnson a bit. I don’t entirely agree with everything that is going on. But I keep out of it. I have my reading, my studies, my writing and my interest in music and metaphysics. The princes’ greatest contribution would have been to rest in whatever position they were given to work whenever the Government wanted them to and then, if the Government felt that they should go out of the picture, they should have done so gracefully.”

Gracefully and tragically, he went too soon after this interview on Sept. 23, 1974 at the age of just 55 years. But the Governments that followed are anything but graceful. Do they know its meaning?

Note: On the Supreme Court directing Karnataka Government to implement its order regarding issuing TDR to legal heirs of the Mysore Maharaja: The matter was adjourned by two weeks. These are oral observations and have persuasive value only. It is an extraordinary situation where the State is repeatedly disobeying the orders of the highest Court. Yet, it is seldom a Chief Secretary and senior bureaucrats are sent to jail. Everyone knows it is the CM who is calling the shots. So, the Court, in its wisdom has given some more time for compliance.

It is disheartening as every day of hearing leaves a big hole in our pockets. People like Kapil Sibal laugh all the way to the bank at tax-payers’ expense as we have a tyrannical Government. Hope recedes but yet one has to carry on with the fight !

A timeline of disputes 

1950: On Jan. 23, Union Government recognises Mysore Palace as the private property of the last Maharaja, Sri HH Jayachamaraja Wadiyar. The distinction between private properties and State properties were clearly maintained from 1881. The Maharaja gave many properties to the State. These are clearly described in the Government Order dated 6-2-1951.

1971: The 26th Amendment to the Constitution abolishes the privileges and privy purses of erstwhile rulers. However, the Government clarifies that the amendment does not affect ownership rights over private properties. 

1974: HH Jayachamaraja Wadiyar passes away. Within 4 days, State takes over all the Temples of the Royal Family including those inside Mysore Palace, on Ramanuja Road, Chamundi Hill and Brindavan in Kolkata.       

1975: State forms Trust to look after Mysore Palace where 7 members of Royal Family were trustees along with 4 State officials. State fails to get Central clearance for the transfer of property to the Trust in view of tax dues like Estate Duty and Wealth Tax. During Emergency, State manages to coerce Srikantadatta Narasimharaja (SDNR) Wadiyar, son of HH Jayachamaraja Wadiyar, to hand over possession of the Mysore Palace and winds up the Trust.

1976: The Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act is passed, restricting urban properties, including those of the Royal Family.   

1988: SDNR Wadiyar moves the High Court to reclaim the portion of Mysore Palace.

1996: The Karnataka Government passes special legislation — Bangalore Palace Acquisition Act, 1996 — to acquire Bangalore Palace.  

1997: The High Court directs the State to return the Palace to the Royal Family. Karnataka files a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court, but it is dismissed, directing the Palace be handed over to the Wadiyars.            

1998: Karnataka passes the Mysore Palace Acquisition Act.  

2013: On Dec. 10, Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar passes away.  

NOW: Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, wife of the SDNR Wadiyar, along with daughters of late Maharaja or their legal representatives continue the decades long legal battle to reclaim their legitimate properties.