SC declines to hear petition against Mysuru royals

The Supreme Court has declined to entertain a petition that urged it to direct the Karnataka government to stop payment of royalty and honorarium to the ‘Maharaja’ of Mysuru which continues even after abolition of the Privy Purse in 1971.

A bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur asked the petitioner, P V Nanjaraja Urs, to approach the High Court of Karnataka where a petition against the Mysore Palace (Acquisition and Transfer) Act, 1998, is pending.

Urs had moved the Supreme Court after the High Court declined to look into his demand. He argued that the High Court dismissed his petition in October without hearing him at length and without considering the fact that the Central government had withdrawn in 1971 the special status granted to royal families.

He quoted a Right To Information (RTI) response given by the Karnataka government that it released Rs 75 lakh between 2012 and 2014 to appreciate the royals’ “kind co-operation” on ‘Dasara’ festival activities. It didn’t give any other information.

In the petition before the Supreme Court, Urs also demanded that Karnataka take immediate possession of the golden throne and the golden howdah. He cited a law enacted by Karnataka in 1998 to acquire the Mysuru palace. He contended that the artefacts legally belong to the state.