Devraj Singh, Lalitya Kumari get custody of majestic hotel after erstwhile Jaipur royal family buries dispute

The grandchildren of late Rajmata Gayatri Devi and Maharaja Sawai Man Singh of Jaipur will get back the luxurious heritage property Jai Mahal Palace hotel from their step uncles.

Devraj Singh and Lalitya Kumari, the offsprings of late Jagat Singh, Sawai Man Singh’s lone child from his marriage with Gayatri Devi, will get back their inherited properties after an amicable settlement within the Jaipur royal family.

Thus, the members of the erstwhile royal family ended their dispute in properties worth an estimated Rs 25,000 crore, ending a 15-year-long legal battle.

The family members of the Jaipur royalty, who had stakes in the personal properties of the Jaipur royals that included luxurious hotels and other immovable properties, decided to go for an amicable settlement out of the court following Supreme Court’s direction to various stakeholders to explore that possibility. This followed years of legal battles being contested in various courts including the National Company Law Tribunal.

The Supreme Court had appointed retired SC judge Justice Kurian Joseph as a mediator to work out a solution.

Pursuant to this, Vijit Singh and his brother Jai Singh, sons of late Prithviraj, Sawai Man Singh’s son from his marriage with Maharani Kishore Kunwar, agreed to handover the Jai Mahal Palace Hotel at a settlement arrived at on December 15.

Jai Mahal Palace will now be transferred to Devraj Singh and Lalitya Kumari and they would become the sole owners of this majestic property which is run as a hotel by the Tata Group under a management contract arrangement.

Following the settlement, Justice Joseph presented before the Supreme Court the documents relating to the amicable settlement and after studying the same, the Supreme Court accepted the settlement and passed the order that would be binding on all the stakeholders.

In the appeal pending in the Supreme Court filed by Devraj Singh and Lalitya Kumari, Rambagh Palace Hotel Pvt Ltd and Jai Mahal Hotel Pvt Ltd represented by Jai Singh and Vijit Singh were the respondents.

Under the terms of the settlement, Devraj Singh and Lalityaa Kumari shall forego their shares in the Rambagh Palace entirely in favour of the respondents while Jai Singh and Vijit Singh shall forego their shares in the Jai Mahal Palace Hotel Pvt Ltd. Thus, by way of mutual exchange of their respective shareholdings, they would forego their respective shares.

Under the settlement, Jai Mahal Palace Hotel will be handed over to Devraj Singh and Lalitya Kumari by Jai Singh and Vijit Singh and it would be free from all encumbrances. The Rambagh Palace Hotels will pay compensation to Devraj Singh and Lalitya Kumari.

Late Jagat Singh had 99 percent paid-up capital in the Jai Mahal Palace and late Prithviraj had just one per cent stake in the said property. But Prithviraj and his son by ‘the overt and covert acts’ became the majority owners. Late Jagat Singh had constituted a firm Jai Mahal Hotels Pvt Ltd and held 5050 equity shares or 99 percent of the share capital as his individual shareholding. Only 45 equity shares were held by Prithviraj and the remaining by his son Vijit Singh.

Jagat Singh was married to Priyanandna Rangsit, a Thai princess and they had two children Devraj Singh and Lalitya Kumari. They lived in London sought divorce after a few years following which Rangsit started living in Bangkok with the two children.

When Jagat Singh died in London in 1997, Prithviraj who had just one percent share in the company, virtually ousted Devraj and Lalitya, the inheritor of their late father’s property, and questioned their right of inheritance.

The children of late Jagat Singh, on the strength of the succession certificate, obtained an order from the National Company Law Tribunal that directed Prithviraj to transfer the shares to the two children of Jagat Singh.

/The NCLT found that Prithviraj and his son indulged in manipulation to deny the children their shares and ordered that the shares should be restored.

This order of the NCLT was challenged by Prithviraj who obtained an order from the appellate authority which reversed the NCLT order which deprived the children of their shares.

They then moved an appeal in the Supreme Court and after a few hearings, the apex ordered that the stakeholders should explore the possibilities of an amicable settlement.

During the course of the hearing, Prithviraj died of COVID-19 this year following which the family member arrived at a decision for an amicable settlement.

Devraj Singh and Lalitya Kumari through the concerted efforts of their mother Pryanandna have now managed to get their rightful shares in the Jai Mahal palace.

Abhishek Kumar Rao, the advocate for Devraj Singh and Lalitya Kumari, said the various stakeholders could come to a settlement because of the consistent efforts of Justice Joseph.

“Both Devraj and Lalitya Kumari expressed their gratitude to Justice Joseph for his wisdom and perseverance by which alone the long-standing disputes could be resolved so amicably. Their mother Priyanandna Rangsit’s tireless pursuit, who left no stone unturned to ensure that their children are not deprived of their patrimony and their rightful status in the Jaipur royal family, also helped the children get their dues. This achievement could not have been remotely possible without the tireless pursuit of the mother. Her courage and grit to keep the legal battle going on for more than 15 years finally culminated into a fruitful and happy ending,” Rao said.