In a significant legal development, the Supreme Court of India has revived a high-stakes land dispute involving a prime property in Jaipur, valued at a staggering Rs 400 crore. The apex court set aside a Rajasthan High Court order, directing it to freshly examine the appeal filed by the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) against a former royal family.
Court Directs Fresh Hearing on Merits
A bench comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and K V Vishwanathan found no justification for the High Court's earlier decision to dismiss the JDA's appeal on technical grounds. The Supreme Court bench held that the matter deserved a hearing based on its actual merits. The judges have now issued a clear directive: the High Court bench must decide JDA's first appeal purely on merit within four weeks and submit a compliance report to the Supreme Court.
This order effectively reopens a legal battle that seemed to have concluded. The High Court, on September 15 last year, had declined to intervene, leaving a 2011 trial court decree in favour of the royal family intact without a detailed appellate scrutiny. The JDA subsequently approached the Supreme Court on December 10, leading to the current ruling.
The Core of the Rs 400 Crore Dispute
The contested land is located in what was historically recorded as "Hathroi village" before being absorbed into central Jaipur's urban landscape. Today, the area comprises premium real estate, schools, hospitals, and other civic infrastructure. The JDA estimates the value of this land parcel, referred to in revenue records as "Siwai chak" (uncultivable government land), at Rs 400 crore.
The civic body's petition states that it took possession of the land in the 1990s. It challenges the claim made by the family of former royal and deputy chief minister Diya Kumari, who assert that the property was registered as their private holding under the 1949 Covenant linked to Jaipur's accession to the Indian Union. The JDA insists the land was never listed as the former royal family's private property in the covenant schedule.
Furthermore, the JDA maintains that large portions of the land were lawfully acquired between 1993 and 1995 after compensation was paid. The opposite narrative began in 2005, when the royal family filed a civil suit seeking a declaration of ownership. This suit was decreed in their favour by a trial court on November 24, 2011. The trial court declared them the owners, set aside revenue entries favouring the state, and restrained the JDA from interfering with their possession.
Long Legal Journey and Constitutional Question
The JDA filed its first appeal against this decree in 2012. After a prolonged wait, the appeal was dismissed in November 2023, only to be restored by the Supreme Court just over a year later. In its appeal to the apex court, the JDA argued that valuable public land was being lost on mere technicalities. It highlighted critical issues involving public title, completed acquisitions, settled revenue records, and a potential constitutional bar under Article 363 of the Constitution, which restricts courts from interfering in agreements related to the accession of princely states.
The Supreme Court's intervention underscores the principle that substantial disputes, especially those involving significant public assets and complex legal questions, must be decided on their substantive merits rather than procedural technicalities. The next four weeks will be crucial as the Rajasthan High Court prepares to examine the decades-old conflict afresh, with the outcome having major implications for both the civic authority and the erstwhile royal family.
