CLB reserves verdict on Royal Palace row

NEW DELHI: The Company Law Board (CLB) has reserved its decision on the maintainability of a petition filed by the Thai grand children of Jaipur’s queen mother Gayatri Devi, claiming ownership of the Royal Palace of Jaipur, converted to a heritage hotel. The property, leased to the Taj group, is estimated to be worth Rs 1,000 crore. The Board is expected to give its decision in a few days on the petition filed by Devraj Singh (25) and Lalitya Kumari (27) claiming their right to inherit their father Maharaja Jagat Singh’s property.

The counsel for defendants, including the queen mother, told the court that the petitioners have no right over the property as they do not legally represent their father. The counsel said further that the petitioners were barking up the wrong tree as they cannot move the CLB over the issue as they do not represent their father.

CLB adjudicating on the petition would amount to adjudicating on the validity of Jagat Sing’s will conferring the rights to Gayatri Devi, which is pending before a civil court. The grand children should seek redressal from a civil court, which is the right forum to settle a dispute on their inheritance, he added.

M Malhotra, senior lawyer appearing on behalf of the two children of late Jagat Singh, maintained that the children have the right to legally represent the deceased, whose name figures in the company records as a member. He cited the English law, mother to Indian laws, to buttress his argument.

The defendant’s counsel said that once there is a will, then the court cannot bypass it and say that Devraj Singh and Lalitya Kumari are the legal representatives. Under the Hindu Succession Act, there would be three heirs, one of them being the grand mother. The petitioners’ application to the CLB has not met the basic requirement of Section 397 of the company law.