Maharaja's daughters to inherit assets worth Rs 20,000 cr
Deccan Herald :PTI :Chandigarh, July 28, 2013
Daughters of the erstwhile Maharaja of Faridkot are set to inherit his estates and assets worth a staggering Rs 20,000 crore following a local court's ruling after a 23-year-old legal battle that his will was forged.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajnish Kumar Sharma on Thursday gave the verdict in favour of Sir Harinder Singh Brar's eldest daughter, Amrit Kaur who had challenged the will which had entitled a trust as the caretaker of the estates and assets including the Faridkot House in the heart of the national capital, a palace and a fort in Punjab besides bank deposits and jewellery.
The assets include large number of properties in Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajnish Kumar Sharma on Thursday gave the verdict in favour of Sir Harinder Singh Brar's eldest daughter, Amrit Kaur who had challenged the will which had entitled a trust as the caretaker of the estates and assets including the Faridkot House in the heart of the national capital, a palace and a fort in Punjab besides bank deposits and jewellery.
The assets include large number of properties in Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh.
The court declared that the will was "forged and fabricated", making Amrit Kaur and her sister, Deepinder Kaur, heir to the estate and assets worth Rs 20,000 crore under the Hindu Succession Act.
As the will forged on July 1, 1982 has been declared "illegal" and "void" by the court, the 'Meharwal Khewaji Trust' has also become illegal, according to the Maharaja's family's advocate Vikas Jain.
Of the Maharaja's three daughters, Amrit Kaur resides in Sector 10, Chandigarh; Deepinder Kaur is in Kolkata while Maheepinder Kaur died a few years ago in Shimla.
At the time when the will was forged, Sir Brar was in depression as his only son Tikka Harmohinder Singh Brar had died.
On June 1, 1982, the servants in connivance with certain people and lawyers had executed the will, while the Maharaja’s family including his wife and mother (then alive) were kept in the dark.
The will which was executed eight months after Tikka Harmohinder’s death, raised the trust and all the servants of Maharaja and lawyers, including some others were made trustees.
Amrit Kaur was divested of all the powers of heiress on the ground that she had married against the wishes of the late Maharaja.
Deepinder Kaur was appointed trust chairman on paltry salary of Rs 1,200 per month while Maheepinder Kaur was given a salary of Rs 1,000 a month.
After the purported will came to light in 1989 following the death of the erstwhile ruler, Amrit Kaur filed a suit challenging the will in 1992 stating that her father had never made any such will and she was with her father till his death.
The suspicion about the will arose as the Maharaja excluded his mother Mohinder Kaur and his wife Narinder Kaur while all the employees, irrespective of their designation or class were appointed trustees.
As the will forged on July 1, 1982 has been declared "illegal" and "void" by the court, the 'Meharwal Khewaji Trust' has also become illegal, according to the Maharaja's family's advocate Vikas Jain.
Of the Maharaja's three daughters, Amrit Kaur resides in Sector 10, Chandigarh; Deepinder Kaur is in Kolkata while Maheepinder Kaur died a few years ago in Shimla.
At the time when the will was forged, Sir Brar was in depression as his only son Tikka Harmohinder Singh Brar had died.
On June 1, 1982, the servants in connivance with certain people and lawyers had executed the will, while the Maharaja’s family including his wife and mother (then alive) were kept in the dark.
The will which was executed eight months after Tikka Harmohinder’s death, raised the trust and all the servants of Maharaja and lawyers, including some others were made trustees.
Amrit Kaur was divested of all the powers of heiress on the ground that she had married against the wishes of the late Maharaja.
Deepinder Kaur was appointed trust chairman on paltry salary of Rs 1,200 per month while Maheepinder Kaur was given a salary of Rs 1,000 a month.
After the purported will came to light in 1989 following the death of the erstwhile ruler, Amrit Kaur filed a suit challenging the will in 1992 stating that her father had never made any such will and she was with her father till his death.
The suspicion about the will arose as the Maharaja excluded his mother Mohinder Kaur and his wife Narinder Kaur while all the employees, irrespective of their designation or class were appointed trustees.
Ex-royal’s daughters get Rs.20,000-crore relief from court
IANS |
It is a royal bonanza for two daughters of a former maharaja, one they had to wait for over two decades.
A court here has declared a 32-year-old will "forged" and illegal" and granted inheritance of properties and assets worth a whopping Rs 20,000 crore ($4.4 billion) to the two daughters of the erstwhile Maharaja of Faridkot, Harinder Singh Brar.
The properties and assets include the palatial Faridkot House on New Delhi's Copernicus Marg, a royal palace complex and a fort in Faridkot, a fort in Mani Majra area of Chandigarh, vintage cars (including a Rolls Royce), an aerodrome in Faridkot spread over 200 acres, properties in Hyderabad and Delhi, gold and jewellery worth nearly Rs.1,000 crore with Standard Chartered Bank in Mumbai and more.
Real estate experts and accountants put the total worth of the properties and assets at over Rs.20,000 crore. The Mani Majra fort, which is over 350 years old, is not in a very good condition. The erstwhile ruler was allowed to keep these properties after the country's independence in August 1947.
The legal battle for the assets started in 1992 after the ex-maharaja's daughter Amrit Kaur filed a case in a court here. Following a 21-year-old legal battle, the court of the chief judicial magistrate Rajnish Kumar, ordered Thursday that the 1981 will, purportedly drawn up by the maharaja, was "forged and fabricated".
With the court judgment, Amrit Kaur and her Kolkata-based sister Deepinder Kaur will inherit the properties and assets of the erstwhile ruler. Their third sister, Maheepinder Kaur, who was not married, died under mysterious circumstances in Shimla in 2001.
Brar had three daughters and a son, Harmohinder Singh, who died in a road accident in 1981. Following this, Brar went into depression.
In her suit, Amrit Kaur, who lives in Sector 10 here, alleged that the will was forged by officials and servants of the ex-ruler at a time when he was in depression. The will, which gave all his properties and assets to the Meharwal Khewaji Trust, was registered in 1982. The trust had some of his servants on board, while his two daughters were appointed chairperson and vice chairperson for a mere Rs.1,200 and Rs. 1,000 per month.
Following the death of the erstwhile ruler in 1989, the trustees took control of all the properties and assets.
Amrit Kaur challenged the will, saying that the trust members had forced her father to sign it at a time when he was in depression. She had claimed that he was not in a "fit state of mind" when the will was drawn up. She pointed out that the will had completely excluded his wife, Narinder Kaur, and mother, Mohinder Kaur, who were alive in 1981-82.
Following the court order decclaring the will "illegal and void", the trustees are likely to appeal to a higher court
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