The heir claimants of the erstwhile Bettiah Raj have written to Bihar governor Rajendra Arlekar, requesting him not to give assent to the vesting of the Bettiah Raj Properties Bill, 2024, passed by the bi-cameral state legislature last month.

The claimants have alleged that the state government, with the help of the bill, has tried to circumvent a sub-judice matter and the directions of the Supreme Court in an attempt to unilaterally take over 15,000 acres of the erstwhile principality and deprive them of their rightful claims.

“We have apprised the Bihar governor of our claims as the inheritors of the Bettiah Raj and how the matter is currently sub-judice with four first appeals pending at the Patna high court. We have prayed to him not to give his assent to the vesting of Bettiah Raj Properties Bill, which is unlawful and against the Constitution,” Ashutosh Sinha told The Telegraph.

Sinha, 71, is a retired civil servant and resides in Delhi. He hails from the erstwhile Anapur estate in Allahabad district. He is a grand-nephew of Maharani Janki Kuer of the Bettiah Raj, who passed away in 1954. His father Jagdambika Saran Singh was the son of Janki Kuer’s brother.

The Bettiah Raj came to existence during the reign of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in the 17th century and its rulers got the title of Raja. It became the second-largest zamindari of Bihar during the British period. The British gave the title of Maharaja to its rulers.

The last ruler of Bettiah Raj — Maharaja Harendra Kishore Singh passed away heirless on March 26, 1893 — leaving behind his two widows —Maharani Sheoratan Kuer and Maharani Janki Kuer.

Sheoratan died in 1896 and the British declared Janki as “incapable” and brought the Bettiah Raj under the Court of Wards Act in 1897. Its property is still with the Court of Wards, with the Board of Revenue in Bihar working as a trustee.

Over a dozen claimants staked claim on the Bettiah Raj property after Janki died in 1954. A couple of them fought cases at the Supreme Court but lost in 1983.

However, the apex court said that their genealogy could not be proved, but added that it did not mean there was no heir in the world, thereby putting the onus of finding them on the Bihar government, which was claiming escheat on the property.

“My father (Jagdambika Saran Singh) filed a case in the lower court at Patna in 1985. The court gave its verdict in 1994, saying that we were the nearest relation of the Maharani Janki Kuer, but added that we approached over 34 years after her demise hence the matter was barred under the Limitation Act, 1963. The court also dismissed the suit filed by the Bihar government for escheat,” Sinha said.

Soon after in 1994, Jagdambika filed the first appeal (557/1994) in the Patna High Court, to challenge the lower court verdict. The Bihar government also filed a first appeal (696/1994) for escheat in the high court. Both the parties also filed cross-appeals against each other.

“All four cases are currently before the Patna High Court, making the entire issue sub-judice. My father died fighting the cases, now we are carrying it forward,” Sinha added.

Another Bettiah Raj heir claimant Ashok Kumar Singh, who resides in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, has also written to the Bihar governor to return the bill to the Bihar government and get him justice about his rightful claims.

This newspaper tried contacting revenue and land reforms minister Dilip Kumar Jaiswal over the issue, but he was not reachable on his phone numbers.

The 15,358 acres of the erstwhile Bettiah Raj is spread across several districts in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.