Maharaja Pratapsinhrao Gaekwad (1908-1968), belonging to the Gaekwad dynasty of Marathas, was the last ruling Maharaja of Baroda, the territory which merged into independent India in 1949.
Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said this while dismissing a plea by Dr Shekhar Shah, who had sought quashing of a June 23, 2014 show cause notice issued by the government of Maharashtra under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) (PP) Act 1971, about the property within the boundaries of the New Maharashtra Sadan here.
The court noted that when Maharaja Pratapsinhrao Gaekwad or his heirs have no claim to the property, Shah's claim in a portion of the property, that too by an unregistered document, cannot dispute the title of the State of Maharashtra on the ground that this was the personal property of the Maharaja.
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The court dismissed Shah's petition seeking quashing of the show cause notice and clarified that the earlier interim order granting stay on it be vacated.
"The petitioner having enjoyed the interim stay, this court, to balance the equities, now directs the estate officer to complete the proceedings initiated under the PP Act within six months from the date of receipt of a copy of this judgment," it noted and asked Shah to pay cost of Rs 30,000 to the state government.
document, the right "even if any created in favour of the petitioner (Shah) by the erstwhile Maharaja Pratapsinhrao Gaekwad with respect to immovable property would be as a licensee and not as owner."
According to Shah, the property was owned, occupied and possessed by him claiming that its ownership to his father was recognised by the Maharaja and his successors.
He claimed that since the issue regarding the property was pending adjudication in the title suit, the issuance of notice was a gross abuse of provisions of the Act as it was without any jurisdiction.
The court noted in its judgement that lease of the entire plot was granted by the then Government, first to the Sirmaur Durbar and thereafter to Baroda Durbar. On a major portion of the plot, the New Maharashtra Sadan has been constructed recently.
"It is obvious therefrom that Maharaja Pratapsinhrao Gaekwad or his heirs have not claimed and/or are not claiming the subject plot of land to be their personal property and have no dispute with the same being the property of the State of Maharashtra," it said.