TIKKA SHATRUJIT SINGH Vs. SUKJIT SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) We have heard Shri Nikhil Nayyar, Senior Counsel for the appellants, Shri Santosh Paul and Dr. Arun Mohan, Senior Counsel appearing for the contesting respondent and Shri Raj Shekhar Rao, Senior Counsel representing the proforma respondent No.2-Ms. Gayatri Devi, who is supporting the case of the appellants.

(2.) The dispute in this appeal is between two arms of the erstwhile royal family of Kapurthala. One arm is that of Brigadier Sukhjit Singh [Hereinafter referred to as 'the Brigadier'], the eldest male lineal descendant of late Maharaja Paramjit Singh of Kapurthala, who has also been recognized as the ruler of Kapurthala by the Government of India. The other arm is led by his estranged wife, Smt. Gita Devi (now deceased) and their two sons, Shatrujit Singh and Amanjit Singh (now deceased), as well as their two daughters, Priti Devi and Gayatri Devi.

(3.) The Brigadier filed Original Suit No.35 of 1977 seeking a declaration of certain properties as his personal properties. Another suit, being Original Suit No. 1052 of 1977, was filed by his wife, sons, and daughters, seeking partition of the family properties, claiming that certain properties were ancestral coparcenary and private properties in the hands of the Brigadier and, as such, have to be divided as per the Hindu Law.