MCC has no role in Palace land dispute: Mayor

'If royal family submits any one document, corporation will issue khatha'

Mayor B L Bhyrappa said the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) has nothing to do with the dispute of the erstwhile royal family over a land measuring over 10 acres opposite the Jayamarthanda Gate of the Mysuru Palace. Addressing a media conference on Tuesday, he said the MCC had sought relevant documents from the erstwhile royal family to issue the katha on the High Court’s directions.

“We have nothing to do in the dispute. The case was between the erstwhile royal family and the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) and the verdict was in favour of the erstwhile royal family. The High Court had directed the MCC to only issue the katha for the land in question. If the erstwhile royal family presents even one document among six options — like change in land use order, sale deed, RTC or single layout approval copy — the MCC would immediately issue the katha certificate. However, issuing khatha itself will not mean that the land belongs to the erstwhile royal family. Khatha serves the purpose of the MCC to collect revenue,” he clarified.

Taking exception to the Mysuru tahsildar filing a police complaint against the erstwhile royal family when their workers were levelling the land in question, the Mayor said that despite democracy, people should recall the contributions of the erstwhile rulers to the state and its people.

‘Lack documents’
“Many buildings in Mysuru city, including the Deputy Commissioner’s office inside the Gordon Park, do not have any documents. As everything belonged to the kings then, they earmarked the lands  for some particular purpose and built buildings based on requirement those days. If MUDA has acquired the land from the family of the erstwhile rulers, or if it has some government order to this effect, it should make it public to solve the problem,” he said.

“In a way, Pramoda Devi Wadiyar seems to make a valid claim that if the lands did not belong to her family, how did the Income Tax department auction it to recover dues. Most of the big buildings in the city belonged to the Wadiyar rulers then, and they could have fixed a rent for each, like the other kings have done in other parts of the country. But they have been pro-people forever and were the first to introduce democracy in the form of the Prathinidhi Sabha and were the first to introduce reservation to weaker sections in jobs. So, there is no logic in unnecessarily victimising the members of the erstwhile royal family. If they have any issues regarding its claim over properties, they should solve them with MUDA. If MUDA has documents to counter the claims of the erstwhile royal family, it should sort it out,” said Bhyrappa.

New market
Mayor Bhyrappa said that the Devaraja Market, a portion of which collapsed last week, has become weak and is not suitable for renovation. “The conservation works do will not strengthen the building. It only revives its heritage beauty. The MCC had decided to demolish the 130-year-old building and had proposed a new building on the site in a meeting in 2006 itself. But, due to various reasons, the government chose the option of conserving it, following a report by an expert committee. There are around 50 such heritage buildings in the city, like the Central Library, which need attention. A suitable decision should be taken in the interest of the growth of the city as well as for the benefit of the people,” he said.