Agartala, June 9: Tripura's royal family is relishing the "triumph of truth", a day after a court restored to it possession of Neer Mahal, the Northeast's only lake palace, and the Rudrasagar.
Tripura's last king, Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya, had built Neer Mahal in the middle of the sprawling Rudrasagar in 1930, inspired by the Udaipur lake palace in Rajasthan.
"After princely Tripura merged with India on October 15, 1949, all former royal possessions passed over to the Government of India. But Neer Mahal and the Rudrasagar remained royal property," said numismatist and historian Jawhar Acharjee.
He said in 1974, Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya's son and Tripura's last coronated prince Kirit Bikram Kishore Manikya had addressed a letter to then Congress chief minister Sukhamay Sengupta requesting his government to look after Neer Mahal and Rudrasagar as part of "permitted occupation right".
"Several letters had been exchanged with Kirit Bikram and the state government urging, with Sengupta seeking transfer of ownership. However, Kirit Bikram did not budge from his position and refused to concede proprietary right to the state government," said Acharjee.
R.K. Chakma, additional director in the tourism department, which runs a tourist lodge on the bank of Neer Mahal, said after Kirit Bikram's death in 2006, his wife Maharani Bibhu Kumari Debi had filed a civil suit on April 25, 2008, claiming possession of Neer Mahal and Rudrasagar. The state government requisitioned services of senior advocates from beyond the government panel to defend its case but lost.
Yesterday, the senior division civil court restored the possession of Neer Mahal and Rudrasagar to the royal family.
Apart from restoring possession within two months, judge Gobinda Das also ordered payment of compensation to the family at the rate of Rs 25 lakh per year with six per cent annual interest. This will entail a total compensation of around Rs 10.86 crore from 1974 to 2015, sources said.
No reaction from the state government was available but highly placed sources in the law department said the government would appeal against the civil court judgment in the high court after receiving a copy of the order.
The Maharani expressed "satisfaction" over the court order and described it as "triumph of truth". Speaking over phone from Calcutta, she said both the Neer Mahal and Rudrasagar were her family's property. "The state government had got only the right to occupation for safe upkeep of the summer palace and the lake. So it remains our property," she said.
She also accused the Left Front government of "chronic enmity" with the royal family and its heritage. "The Congress government headed by Sengupta had paid us Rs 36 lakh in 1973 after acquiring a part of the Ujjayanta palace. But when the Left Front came to power, then chief minister Nripen Chakraborty filed a suit in the high court alleging overpayment. The verdict was passed in 1989 and we got an enhanced payment of Rs 1.92 crore. My husband, of course, did not accept the interest," she said. She expressed the hope that the high court would also uphold the verdict in case of government appeal.
The Maharani's son and royal scion Pradyot Bikram Kishore Manikya, who is in Berlin for treatment, said over phone, "Our stand has been vindicated and we hope that the high court will uphold the same."
Chakma said the Rudrasagar was being used by a fishermen's cooperative for fishing and boating and farmers and fishermen had allegedly encroached upon large parts of the lake. "What ultimately may happen will depend on the high court verdict and then, possibly the Supreme Court. But the state government's position is not very solid and payment of compensation to the royal family may become unavoidable," he said.
