Pramoda Devi Wadiyar claims that the lands are part of the property belonging to the erstwhile royal family of Mysuru, as part of a 1951 agreement between the then maharaja of Mysore and government of India.
| Photo Credit: M A Sriram

The Mysuru district unit of Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha (KPRS) has urged authorities to reject the petition submitted by Pramoda Devi Wadiyar of the erstwhile royal family of Mysuru to transfer the khata of an estimated 5,000 acres of land in Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka, including Siddayyanapura village, in her name.

In a statement dated April 14, the KPRS urged the government of Karnataka to protect the interests of farmers in this matter.

The Sangha’s Mysuru district President Chikkanne Gowda and General Secretary Jagadish Surya pointed out that these agricultural lands had been in the possession of farmers for a long duration of time before they had become their inherited property.

KPRS urged Deputy Commissioner of Chamarajanagar and Regional Commissioner of Mysuru to reject Ms. Wadiyar’s claim, which ‘is against the peaceful possession of the agricultural land by the farmers and the Land Reforms Act’.

The Sangha has urged authorities to immediately transfer cultivation and ownership rights to the farmers concerned, and prepare to defend their rights in any civil dispute that may arise.

Ms. Wadiyar, while staking the claim of the erstwhile royal family over an estimated 5,000 acres of land in Chamarajanagar, had written to the Deputy Commissioner of Chamarajanagar Shilpa Nag and other officials to transfer the khata, sparking concern among the residents of Siddayyanapura in Chamarajanagar taluk.

On April 14, Ms. Wadiyar addressed a press conference where she reassured residents of Siddayyanapura village that there is no need for them to worry over her claim on the lands. ‘Though the lands are part of the property belonging to the erstwhile royal family of Mysuru, as part of a 1951 agreement between the then maharaja of Mysore and government of India’, Ms. Wadiyar said her family will not take any action that would trouble residents of the village.