A Single Judge Bench of Rajasthan High Court comprising Justice Sameer Jain sought the reply of the Union and Rajasthan Government as to if any person can put Maharaja, Raja, Nawab, Rajkumar titles as a prefix while filing cases in the High Court or Trial Court.
Background of the Case
This question arose as to clear the point whether the Maharaja, Raja, Nawab, Rajkumar titles as a prefix can be used while filing cases in the High Court or Trial Court as the Respondents were using such title in filing the Petition.
Observation of the Court
The court in this issue referred to the 26th Amendment in the Constitution of India, Article 363-A, and Article 14 to stress that recognition, titles granted to the rulers of the Indian State no longer persist and have been abolished.
In the light of the 26th Amendment in the Constitution of India and on perusal of Article 363A which talks about Recognition granted to Rulers of Indian States to cease and privy purses to be abolished and states that Notwithstanding anything in this constitution or in any law for the time being in force the Prince, Chief, or another person who, at any time before the commencement of the Constitution (Twenty-sixth Amendment) Act, 1971, was recognized by the President as the Ruler of an Indian State or any person who, at any time before such commencement, was recognized by the President as the successor of such ruler shall, on and from such commencement, cease to be recognized as such Ruler or the successor of such Ruler and on and from the commencement of the Constitution (Twenty-sixth Amendment) Act, 1971, the privy purse is abolished and all rights, liabilities, and obligations in respect of privy purse are extinguished and accordingly, the Ruler or, as the case may be, the successor of such Ruler referred to in the above clauses or any other person shall not be paid any sum as privy purse.
Along with this Article 14 was reproduced which talks about Equality before the law and states that The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.
It was analyzed from the above Articles of Constitution of India that recognition, titles granted to the rulers of the Indian State no more persisted and were abolished. The counsel for the petitioner submitted that the said title was filed before the trial court and as a result of the same had to be generated.
The court directed to issue the limited notices to the Additional Solicitor General- Shri R.D Rastogi representing Central Government and learned Advocate General-Shri M.S Singhvi for the State to address the same issue. Whether after the insertion of Article 363-A and 26th Amendment in the Constitution of India, the said title of Raja, Nawab, Maharaja, Rajkumar as prefix can be filed/ addressed in the constitutional court or the learned trial court below.
The registry was directed to issue notices of the said petition as well as a certified copy of this order upon the respective offices of learned ASG and learned AG so that the issue could be addressed on the next date.
The matter was listed to be heard on 03.02.2022.
Case Details
Case Title: Bhagwati Singh (Since Deceased) S/o (Late) Shri Raja Mansingh v. Raja Laxman Singh S/o (Late) Shri Raja Mansingh and connected matter
Bench: Justice Sameer Jain
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