Supreme Court overturns High Court's decision in JDA-royal family case (file photo)
Digital Desk, New Delhi. The Supreme Court has restarted the Rs 400 crore land dispute case between Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) and the family of former royal family member and Deputy Chief Minister Diya Kumari.
The Supreme Court has set aside the decision of the Rajasthan High Court, which had allowed the 2011 trial court decision in favor of the royal property to be maintained without any investigation.
During the hearing, a bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Vishwanathan said that there was no justification for the High Court to reject the JDA's appeal on technical grounds. The judges directed the high court bench to decide the JDA's first appeal on merits within four weeks and submit a compliance report.
What is the whole matter?
In fact, the dispute pertains to land that was known as Hathroi village in official records, which later became part of the urban sprawl of Central Jaipur, comprising prime real estate, schools, hospitals and other civic infrastructure.
This land was recorded as 'Siwai Chak' i.e. 'uncultivated government land' by the Jaipur Development Authority in its revenue records. According to JDA, the value of this land is Rs 400 crore.
Land was captured in the 1990s
The petition filed by JDA said that the city administration had taken possession of the land in the 1990s. The petition challenges the former royal family's claim that it was registered as private property under the 1949 agreement related to Jaipur's merger with the Indian Union. The land was never recorded as private property of the royal family and large parts of the land were legally acquired between 1993 and 1995 after compensation was paid.
The royal family announced ownership
But in the year 2005, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of the royal family for declaration of ownership, on which after 6 years on November 24, 2011, the trial court ruled in their favor, and they were declared the owners. During this, the court rejected the revenue entries in favor of the state and restrained the authority from interfering in the possession.
After this, JDA filed its first appeal in this case in the year 2012. It was rejected in November 2023, however, it was reinstated a year later. On September 15 last year, the Rajasthan High Court refused to intervene in the land dispute, and upheld the trial court's decision without appellate scrutiny.
After this, Jaipur Development Authority moved the Supreme Court on 10 December. JDA has argued that despite issues related to public title, completion of acquisition, settlement of revenue records and constitutional ban under Article 363, the government land was lost on technical grounds.
Also read- Woman murdered, reached Supreme Court to get punishment for her husband's killers, shot in Shalimar Bagh