Nearly a decade-and-a-half after the death of former prime minister VP Singh, a land dispute involving irregularities in the sale of land haunts his legacy as an anti-corruption crusader. The dispute is over 50 years old and concerns valuable properties worth several thousand crores belonging to the Sri Ram Janki Trust. VP Singh’s grandson Akshay, in a case filed in the court of the Civil Judge (Senior) Division Allahabad against his uncle Ajeya, father Abhay and grandmother Sita Kumari, has alleged that real estate belonging to the family-run Sri Ram Janki Trust was illegally sold off by Singh to benefit himself and the rest of the family.
The trust was established in 1932 by Rai Bahadur Captain Ram Gopal Singh, former Raja of Manda and Singh’s adoptive father. At the heart of the dispute are massive real estate holdings which, according to realtor sources, are worth Rs 15,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore; most of it in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, and parts of Uttar Pradesh. Court documents allege that Singh converted large amounts of trust land to freehold status illegally to partition and sell-off. Fresh attempts by Ajeya, former Congress leader, banker and property developer, in this direction, has renewed attention on the misappropriation of real estate worth several hundred crores.
LAND GRAB OR LANDING RIGHTS?
The properties bequeathed by the Raja to the trust include Aishmahal, a house on Ashoka Road, Prayagraj; Sarang Talaab, Varanasi; and a portion of the Manda Fort where the principal deities of the royal clan are worshipped in private temples. The land totalled 25 bighas and 17 biswas, measuring 19,452 sqm. The Singh family wants to take over Manda House on Rajpur Road, one of the most valuable assets of the trust, and convert it into freehold in their name, according to Akshay.
With the Delhi-Dehradun expressway coming up, its value is bound to skyrocket. According to current estimates, land here costs nearly Rs 1.5 lakh per sqm.
Devdutt, son of late Lala Narayan Das, owner of the English Book Depot which has been operating on Rajpur Road since 1923, had registered property bought from Singh through Jagat Singh, one of former PM’s estate managers and power-of-attorney holders. Devdutt’s son Sandeep says, “My father held talks with VP Singh at his Delhi residence to finalise a deal for the shop, after which we made it freehold as per the state government’s policy.” But the land was not Singh’s to sell; it belonged to the Sri Ram Janki Trust. Akshay has now requested the court to allow him control of the trust since he is “the only male heir of the Manda family who has not acted adversely or has been hostile to the trust and (has) full right to protect the trust property on behalf of the deity…” and “is the great-grandson of the founder of the trust and as such”. Singh’s real father Aperbal was allowed to live in a house in Sarang Talaab, Varanasi, as a caretaker until he died, after which a case was filed to reclaim it from the lessees.
IN GOD’S NAME
The Raja’s ancestors had constructed several temples in Uttar Pradesh, which he dedicated to family deities Sri Ram Jankiji, Deviji, Sri Mandavi Deviji, Sri Yog Maya Deviji, Sri Thakurji and Sri Shankarji. During a financial crisis, the Raja created the private trust under which he brought various income-generating properties. Akshay’s petition states, “The properties described… have absolutely and irreversibly been vested in the plaintiff deities… The founder of the said trust, Raja Ram Gopal Singh, had divested himself of any right, title or interest in the properties so dedicated to the aforesaid deities and became in-charge of the trust properties as the first sole trustee of the said trust.”
Seven years after creating the trust, Raja Ram Gopal Singh turned to its resources to raise money. His solution was to sign a 30-year lease deed in 1939 with builder Rai Bahadur Ugrasen to develop commercial properties in a portion of the land and “spend the income received towards the purposes of the trust in conduction of puja, rajbhog etc. and maintenance of the aforesaid temple”. The Raja died in 1941, and India achieved independence six years later; the divine status of the trust remained intact.
Ajeya, in his written reply to his nephew’s petition, writes, “The Estate of Manda at the time managed by Raja Ram Gopal Singh was in heavy debt in or about 1932 and a lot of money was payable by the said Estate of Raja Manda by Raja Ram Gopal Singh.
To save the properties of Manda Estate, he executed a deed in 1932 (October 27, 1932) in the name of private trust known as Ram Janki Trust.” But even if a property is encumbered by debt, transferring assets from an individual to the deities will not erase it. Ajeya had inherited his father’s share apart from what was already his. But the properties were part of the trust and as per its terms, trustees could not become their “owners” nor could they sell or transfer them. Further, by a Memorandum of Family Rearrangement, dated December 20, 1997, Singh exchanged a trust property with Ajeya. Singh had already renewed the lease on that land in his name in 1958, when, in fact, it belonged to the six deities. Though he had mentioned trust property as joint family wealth, he had to admit in a case involving the Sarang Talaab property that it belonged to the trust. Ajeya has admitted in court that he is a trustee, which highlights the fact that the trust has not been dissolved and hence owns all the properties which Singh sold or transferred.
UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTIONS
VP Singh became the trustee in 1941. Since he was a minor, the estate was taken over as per colonial law by the Court of Wards on September 16, 1941, which was released on February 16, 1953. On becoming a major, he became head of the trust. Its deed decrees that “no one else (except the Raja) will have the right to transfer its property, which will be for the needs of the trust and not for others. That no trustee shall have the right to take loan in the name of the trust, nor shall he be allowed to do so by mortgaging the property of the trust.” Senior Dehradun advocate Sanjeev Joshi says, “Ram Gopal Singh had transferred the Dehradun property to the trust.
It was also leased by the trust to Rai Bahadur Ugrasen, and came back to the trust a few years later.” The deed also prohibits revocation after Ram Gopal Singh’s death. The legal heir only has the right to be the trustee and the shebait (manager.) Singh, during his lifetime—and after his death, his property managers Jagat and Awadhesh Kumar Singh—allegedly sold valuable real estate on Rajpur Road on the Manda family’s behalf. Sources also said the managers would hold buyer’s meetings with the former prime minister present, and the deal would be finalised after some bargaining. Sandeep Kapoor, the owner of Lahore Jewellers on Rajpur Road, says, “We got this registry done through VP Singh’s manager Jagat. The former PM seemed to be more of a businessman than a politician.” Just like Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar Verma, owner of Hotel Kumar Foods on Rajpur Road, says Jagat registered their shop in 1987 on the basis of power of attorney. “Of the total land owned by VP Singh here, there are more than 100 such occupants, many of whom have got their property freehold,” Verma adds. According to sources, more trust properties in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, etc., have suffered the same fate.
INVESTIGATION ORDERED
Akshay’s petition alleged that in around 1973, Singh started claiming the trust properties as joint family properties. Singh went on to partition them among his sons, “suppressing the fact that these properties are the trust property”. It alleges that the deed wasn’t produced before the tax authorities and the deities, who under the established law are perpetual minors and were unrepresented. Akshay pointed out that Singh tried to get freehold right of the Rajpur Road property “suppressing the fact of creation of the said trust from the authorities of Dehradun Municipality, in utter breach of the trust”.
That Singh simultaneously claimed to be the owner of the property since it was his father’s and also declared it belonged to the trust is a contradiction. After he died on November 27, 2008, his wife and two sons—as Akshay claims—“claim all the surviving trust property” and “Sita Kumari and Ajeya Singh have applied for grant of freehold right in their favour of the trust property of Rajpur Road, Dehradun, in their personal names and thus have forfeited their right to be the trustee”.
Abhay, who lives in the US, has “not taken any interest in the affair of the said trust ever and as matter of fact, he is quite uninterested in these matters”. An earlier application by VP Singh to Vice Chairman, Mussorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA), dated October 5, 2006, for “grant of freehold right with regard to the said Dehradun property of the trust” was unsuccessful. Unconvinced of the veracity of the claim, the Vice Chairman noted on file, “In my opinion, this file is fit for a detailed investigation.”
Akshay has accused his eminent grandfather of pursuing court cases to secure all trust properties. In spite of admitting that the large property belonged to the trust, most of it has been sold off except for some land occupied by tenants. Singh’s application was rejected by Nagar Palika, Dehradun, since “this property was clearly included in the final decrees of the Encumbered Estates Act, it cannot be released”. In 1977, Singh, as the karta of the Hindu Undivided Family, quietly divided the trust properties between himself, Sita Kumari, Ajeya and Abhay through private unregistered deeds labelled Memorandum of Partial Partition, dated October 3, 1977 and August 31, 1978. The trust deed was not disclosed. Among the properties partitioned was the land on Rajpur Road, then valued at Rs 5.5 lakh, which was equally divided among his immediate family. After his death in 2008, Sita Kumari sent a fresh freehold application to the MDDA.
FLIP-FLOPS
After 1996, Singh approached Dehradun authorities to convert property in the city to freehold. The Vice Chairman, MDDA, sought documents regarding the nazul Rajpur Road property stated in the application—“a certified copy of the court’s order specifying that the property had been released from execution proceedings of the Encumbered Estates Act and a copy of the final decree on the property in Singh’s favour”. Akshay has submitted documentary evidence of the existence of the Ram Janki Trust, detailing all its properties by name and location.
Ajeya’s reply denies that many of the properties mentioned in his nephew’s suit are either only on paper or not trust property and that “mere mentioning of the said property (Ashoka Road) in the alleged deed dated October 27, 1932, does not mean that the said property was the property of the trust. The document dated October 27, 1932 was only paper transaction and the same was executed with intention to save the properties of the then Manda Estate”.
Almost the entire Manda Raj property is gone and a small fraction of about 1,700 sqyds (15 A & B Rajpur Road) remains unsold. Singh bequeathed this to his wife. Akshay believes that the family gods have been denied their due after the sale of revenue-generating holdings. He states, “Under the stipulation in the deed of trust, the trustee has to be an heir to the Manda State under the law… he by birth is an heir to the Manda State under the law of inheritance. Hence this suit is being filed by him.”
The case is still in court. So are the families.
The Trust’s key terms and conditions:
1) The Trust shall be popularly known as Shri Ram Janki Trust
2) After payment of malguzari (revenues taxes) and fee to the government whatever annual income comes in hand shall be spent for the purposes of the trust
3) On demise of the executants trustee, the trustee of the said trust shall be the person who under the law shall be the heir of the estate of Manda Raj
4) No trustee shall have any right to transfer the trust property for any necessity
5) No trustee shall have any right to take loan against the trust property
6) No trustee shall divest the trust or its property
7) It shall be the duty of the trustee to spend the income of the trust property only for the purpose of the trust and he shall maintain the amount of expenses
8) Barring the first trustee, namely Raja Ram Gopal Singh, no other person shall have the right to revoke the trust
GREY AREAS
● A caveat in the lease deed goes, “In case the trust is revoked by the Raja Bahadur or by court for which a case is at present pending in the Court of the Special Judge 1st Grade Allahabad, this property will revert to the said Raja Bahadur and he will be deemed to have granted the lease to the said lessee as aforesaid on behalf of himself and his heirs and the lease will be binding between the parties in same way as if no mention had been made in the document of the Trust at all. It is further agreed that in case the property is sold under the Encumbered Estates Act or otherwise, it will be sold subject lease and the purchasers of the lease will be responsible for the benefit and liabilities of this lease”. Did the Raja try to dissolve the lease through court order and fail?
● If VP Singh or his family members claimed any of the trust properties as personal, the onus is on them to prove through a duly stamped registered deed of sale, gift or alienation that showed that the trust at some stage transferred the property to its own trustee. This would indicate that the fiduciary manager of the deities usurped the position of the owner.
● In a letter to Adhishasi Adhikari, Nagar Palika, Dehradun, VP Singh wrote, “The property known as Manda Raj Kothi, Dehradun, which includes 15-B Rajpur Road, has been subject to proceedings of the UP Encumbered Estates Act ever since 1935. This property along with other properties was declared to be liable to attachment sale or mortgage in the satisfaction of the personal debts of my father Raja Bahadur Ram Gopal Singh under section 11 of the said Act, and was ultimately incorporated in the final decrees transmitted to the Collector Allahabad, under Section 19 of the E.E. Act, in 1956.” Can property under government control be sold?