AN UNEASY TRUCE

On December 15, 2021, a long-drawn-out legal battlebetween members of the erstwhile Jaipur royalty came to a close.

- Rohit Parihar

The 15-year-old fight over the ownership of two prized properties—Jai Mahal Palace and Ram Bagh Palace—was finally resolved after the court appointed mediator, justice (retd) Joseph Kurian, brokered a settlement between Devraj Singh and Lalitya Kumari, grandchildren of the late Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur, and their cousin Vijit Singh. As per the settlement, Devraj and Lalitya get ownership of Jai Mahal in lieu of selling their 4.4. per cent shares in Ram Bagh to Vijit. Both palaces, turned hotels, are managed by the Taj Hotels group.

The fight is the first—of at least half a dozen venomous legal disputes over as many prime properties once owned by the Jaipur royalty—to have reached resolution. “I am happy with what we have arrived at and hope that the legal battles that have been on among us do not carry on to the next generation,” says Devraj, 40. So, while the hope is that this will set the ball rolling for other disputes to be resolved as well, given the bitterness among the four sons born to Sawai Man Singh, the king of Jaipur at the time of independence, from his three wives, it seems unlikely.

Diya Kumari, BJP MP and daughter of Bhawani Singh, the last maharaja of Jaipur, has said that her family intends to fight for its legitimate onefourth share in Ram Bagh Palace. The politician may not take kindly to Devraj and Lalitya giving up their similar claim of one-fourth share in Ram Bagh to her rivals since it was her father who had helped the two reclaim their rights from Gayatri Devi, with whom the siblings were estranged.