As the Left government in Kerala gears up to inaugurate a cultural centre at Travancore House, in the heart of the national capital, on August 4, the Travancore royal family has moved the central government and various local bodies in Delhi with a request to halt the same.
The royal family has claimed ownership of the 14-acre prime property, saying that around 8.195 acres of it was allotted to the maharaja of Travancore in 1915 for residential purposes at a cost of Rs 1,800 per acre and the remaining portion was purchased by him in 1934 utilising his personal funds.
The Travancore royal family, in its missives to various authorities including the Union home secretary, the Delhi Development Authority, the Archaeological Survey of India and the New Delhi Municipal Council, has claimed that the Kerala government had no permission to renovate the palace or build a cultural centre within the 14-acre plot in Lutyens' Delhi.
The prime elite property, which is worth a few hundred crores of rupees and also categorised as a heritage building by the New Delhi Municipal Council, at Kasturba Gandhi Marg in the national capital, was placed at the disposal of the Indian government for war related purposes free of rent in 1939, the royal family has claimed.
The Kowdiar Palace said that in 1946, the house was returned to the erstwhile Travancore State, except for the land on which the government had constructed some hutments which were under a lease to the Russian embassy and 22 other hutments which were being used by the government as residential and office accommodation.
In 1948, as the Travancore House was taken on a direct lease from the erstwhile Travancore State by the Soviet embassy, the Indian government noted that the palace in Delhi was owned by and in the possession of the Travancore Darbar and they have every right to let it out to any person they choose, the royal family has contended.
It has also contended, in its letters to the various authorities, that all the documents proving the ownership of the maharaja in the property in question have been submitted to the ministries of urban affairs and home affairs for seeking issuance of a title card in respect of the same.
The royal family, represented by Prince Adithya Varma, has also contended that the Kerala government was yet to respond to a letter sent by the land and development officer (L&DO) seeking an explanation as to how it came into possession of the property.
Varma has claimed that post independence, a covenant was executed by the rulers of Travancore and Cochin and under it they were entitled to the full ownership, use and enjoyment of all private properties belonging to them and Travancore House was included in the list of properties of the maharaja.
He has contended that there is a bar under Article 363 of the Constitution against questioning or altering in any manner the settled position under treaties and agreements with erstwhile rulers.
"As the settlement of private properties is made under the covenants and agreements of merger, the terms of which have been guaranteed by the Government of India, no variation should be made in the accepted list without the written agreement by the maharaja of Travancore," Varma has said in the letters.
While the Kowdiar Palace is awaiting a favourable response from the central government with regard to issuance of a title card of the property, it is also hopeful that the authorities it has reached out to would halt the allegedly illegal construction going on at Travancore House and the expected inauguration of the cultural centre on August 4.
Therefore, the royal family has no plans presently to move the courts for a stay of the same, a source in the Kowdiar Palace said.
