After 40-year court battle with State, SC restores Constituent Assembly member’s historic estates to his charitable trust

The Supreme Court has restored the ₹3,000-crore historic estates of Constituent Assembly member and former parliamentarian, Raja Bahadur Sardar Singh, to a trust he created for charitable purposes after a nearly four-decade-old litigation with the State of Rajasthan over his will.

The court’s recent order, published on Saturday, would act as a precedent against the government interfering in or caveating private wills without first proving intestacy (absence of a will) and a complete absence of heirs.

A Bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma realised Mr. Singh’s instruction in his 1985 will to bequeath his assets to the Khetri Trust, an organisation founded by the former Rajasthan royal, who played a part in the framing of the Constitution, to promote education and advance the study of science, literature and the arts in India.

The estates had been locked in dispute with the State of Rajasthan, which had claimed them on the principle of escheat (heirless property devolving to the state). The State had contested the will, claiming Mr. Singh had died ‘intestate’ or without a will.

The State had refused to give up the litigation even after a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court probated or validated the authenticity of Mr. Singh’s will.

Upholding the High Court decision, the apex court Bench observed the State government was a “stranger” which had no locus standi (the right to bring a dispute to court) whatsoever to challenge the former royal’s will.

“Only when there is failure of heirs that the estate of an intestate Hindu would devolve on the Government under Section 29 (principle of escheat) of the Hindu Succession Act. This means that till that stage arrives, the government is a stranger to the probate proceedings as well as any proceeding regarding succession under the personal law,” the Bench said.

The apex court further noted that a grant of probate by a competent court of law could be challenged only by likely heirs of the testator either through an appeal or by seeking revocation of the probate. The State cannot presume locus standi by merely invoking the Rajasthan Escheat Regulation Act of 1956.

“The State of Rajasthan in the instant case has no locus standi to challenge the judgment of the Division Bench of the High Court on the strength of the escheat of the properties of the testator [Singh]. Section 29 of the Act does not apply in the instant case as this is not a case of intestate succession but one of testamentary succession as probate of the will has been granted by High Court,” the Bench led by Justice Nagarathna held.