Twenty-six-year old litigation fought in the Gwalior Sessions Court by the successors of the Scindia dynasty had an unusual climax yesterday when judge Sachin Sharma asked the feuding parties, including Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia and his two aunts—Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje and Madhya Pradesh minister Yashodhara Raje, to reach an amicable solution out of the court to “set an example for the masses”.
Additional sessions judge Sachin Sharma told all the counsels of the contesting parties that according to section 89 of Civil Procedure Code (CPC), it would be in the interest of everybody that all the challenging parties reach an amicable solution. “All your clients are highly educated individuals and hold prominent positions in public life. They should set an example for rest of the society by agreeing to a solution that is basically a dispute of succession,” Judge Sharma told the counsels. Refusing to give another extension of date for the, the court asked the aggrieved parties to be present before it latest by October 6.
Jyotiraditya, the titular head of erstwhile Gwalior state, and his two aunts are locked in several disputes for properties spread all over the country. Jyotiraditya's grandmother Rajmata Scindia, who is also one of the founding members of the BJP, was not at good terms with her son Madhavrao (Jyotiraditya's father) and declared that all her property should go to her daughters instead of son. Jyotiraditya had filed a suit in the Gwalior court 26 years ago contesting his grandmother's will citing that as per succession rules of the state, he is the heir to entire property.
The feud among the family was so bitter that Madhavrao even had to pay a symbolic rent to live in the Jaivilas Palace built by his grandfather in 1874. The battle among the family members became so worse that in 1990, young Jyotiraditya had to file a petition in court prohibiting his father and grandmother from selling the ancestral properties. According to rough estimates, property worth over Rs 1 lakh crore are with the Scindias in prime locations all over the country.
Family sources say among the properties in litigation are a huge palace and buildings in Gwalior, precious Vasundhara building on Mumbai's Peddar Road, 32-acre Scindia Villa in prime Sarojini Nagar area of Delhi and Padma Vilas Palace in Pune. Apart from these, the family owns Madhav Vilas Palace and George Castle in Shivpuri, Kaliadeh Palace in Ujjain, Gwalior House on Rajpur Road in Delhi, Scindia Ghat in Varanasi and Vithoba Temple in Goa. Most of the properties are in litigation just because of Rajmata's will.
Another prominent property Usha Kiran Palace has been converted to a heritage hotel. Presently, the Taj group manages the property which is the only star hotel in Gwalior.
Though nobody speaks of the investments and other businesses of the family, it is believed that at the time of independence, the family owned shares in more than eight dozen companies, including a major share in Bombay Dyeing.
According to election affidavit, Jyotiraditya and his family members have assets worth crores of rupees. His family owns shares in several companies, including Greaves Cotton, Ingersoll Rand, KEC International, Merck, RPG Life Sciences, Sintex Industries, Texmaco Rail and Engineering, Scindia Investments Pvt Ltd, ARS Trustee Company, MJS Trustee Company, PRS Trustee Company, Ananya Raje Tavern, Mahanaaryaman Resort, Priyadarshini Raje Resort, Earth Financial Advisors, Moonrise Financial Advisors and Shivali Financial Advisors.