Hindustan Times: New Delhi: Monday,
August 29, 2016.
The Supreme
Court has refused to entertain a petition seeking a direction to the Karnataka
government to stop release 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 TS Thakur asked the petitioner PV Nanjaraja Urs to
approach the Karnataka high court where a petition against the Mysore Palace
(Acquisition and Transfer) Act, 1998, was pending.
Urs had
petitioned the top court last month against Karnataka high court’s order that
declined to look into his demand. He claims the HC rejected his petition in
October without hearing him at length and without considering the fact that the
Indian government had in 1971 withdrawn the special status granted to royal
families.
In response
to his queries made under the Right to Information (RTI) law, Urs learnt the
state released `75 lakh between 2012 and 2014 as part of its “kind
co-operation” for the “Dasara festival” activities. But, the state did not part
with other information.
Urs has also
demanded that the state take immediate possession of the golden throne and
golden howda (the seat kept on the elephant’s back while riding it). In 1998
the Karnataka government had enacted the law to acquire the Mysore palace,
which came into force in 1998. Urs said the artifacts legally belong to the
state.
“…it is very
clear and admitted that both the golden throne (Rathna Simhasana) and golden
howda (Ambari) are in possession of the respondent (queen), even though they
were legally acquired under the Mysore Palace Acquisition Act,” Urs mentioned
in his petition. He also referred to several letters written by then Maharaja
of Mysuru appealing the government to maintain the palace, which had become a
“difficult task for the royalty.”
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