Jaipur : The former royal family of Jaipur has received a big shock from a court order. The Judicial Magistrate North of Jaipur Mahanagar II has declared the vacant land located at Jalebi Chowk outside Jaipur’s City Palace as the property of the state government. The former royal family was claiming this vacant land to be their property. The court has rejected this claim. The court said that this property has been given to the state government under the Covenant. That is, the rules of the Covenant were made during the British rule. Under those rules, the royal family had handed over this land to the state government.
There is no mention of property return in the covenant
Advocate Mukesh Joshi, while pleading on behalf of the state government i.e. Municipal Corporation, argued in the court that in the year 1949, a covenant was executed between the Government of India and Maharaja Sawai Mansingh. It is clearly written in that agreement that Town Hall and Rajendra Hazari Guard Building including Jalebi Chowk are handed over to the state government for use. The responsibility of its maintenance will also remain with the state government. Advocate Joshi said that there is no mention of returning the said properties or transferring them to someone else in the covenant. Also, this covenant cannot be challenged in any court of the country. In such a situation, it is not appropriate for the former royal family to claim rights on this land now.
The case is going on in the court since 1994
The case of the vacant land of Jalebi Chowk premises was pending in the court for the last 30 years. The Maharaja Sawai Mansingh Trust of the former royal family had claimed the said land for the first time in the year 1994. The trust had said that the vacant land at Jalebi Chowk and the temporary shops built there are licensed shops of the trust. The Municipal Corporation cannot take any action on this vacant land and temporary shops. The action taken by the corporation is not legally valid. On the other hand, the corporation claimed that this property belongs to the government. In such a situation, being a municipal corporation area, it can be used.
Earlier the decision came in favor of the trust, now against it
The trust had challenged the corporation’s action in court on removing temporary encroachment at Jalebi Chowk, calling it wrong. The trust said that this is the trust’s property and the Municipal Corporation has no right to interfere in this property. While hearing this case, Judicial Magistrate No. 5 gave a decision in favor of the trust on 24 July 2018. That decision was challenged by the Municipal Corporation. The court of ADJ number two cancelled the 6-year-old decision and ordered a fresh hearing. After which the court rejected the trust’s claim and gave a decision in favor of the Municipal Corporation.
