Relief for Mysuru Royal family member: HC directs changes in entry for 100 acres

The High Court of Karnataka has directed the revenue/ municipal authorities in Mysuru to make appropriate entries in the name of Indrakshi Devi, a member of Mysuru royal family, in respect to 100 acres 32 guntas of land at Kurubarahalli village, Kasaba Hobli in Mysuru.

The subject land was part of a huge chunk of lands that were held by the Deputy Commissioner of Mysuru as ‘B-kharab’/government land reserved for public purpose by an order dated May 26, 2015.

This order of the Deputy Commissioner in respect of 2,000 acres of land in three villages - Kurubarahalli, Alanahalli and Chowdanahalli in Mysuru were held to be private properties by a coordinate bench of the high court on June 19, 2020. The counsel for the petitioners contended that the 100 acres 32 guntas is part of the land in Kurubarahalli.

Indrakshi Devi, one the sisters of Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, through her two power of attorney holders, contended that the land was part of 1,563 acres of land acquired by the then Maharaja of Mysuru. The land can be seen in the list of properties filed by the then Maharaja and the Union government and the government of Mysuru in the accession treaty of 1950. It was also informed to the court that the order of the co-ordinate bench (June 2020) was tested by the state government right up to the Supreme Court and the government has been unsuccessful.

Considering these developments, Justice R Devdas allowed the petition and directed the authorities to consider the representation, to be submitted by the petitioners, for appropriate changes in the entries.

Three deputy commissioners of Mysuru, from 2011 to 2015, had passed separate orders pertaining to the lands in three villages. The owners of the land, including Pramoda Devi Wodeyar, wife of Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodeyar, moved the high court challenging the orders. The petitioners contended that the lands classified as ‘B’ kharab government lands by the deputy commissioner in 2015 were the very lands held by the Maharaja of Mysore.