The Supreme Court Today (May 29) paused orders that would give transferable development rights (TDRs) worth Rs 3,400 crore to the Wadiyar family’s heirs over land from Bangalore Palace grounds. The case will now be heard again in July and August 2025.
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NEW DELHI: In a big relief to the Karnataka government, the Supreme Court today temporarily stopped earlier orders that allowed the legal heir of Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar and others to get transferable development rights (TDRs) worth more than Rs 3,400 crore.
This land, over 15 acres from Bangalore Palace grounds, was taken by the government to widen Bellary and Jayamahal Roads in Bengaluru city.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta, and N Kotiswar Singh gave this stay on Thursday.
The court said-
“That all the TDR certificates will stay safely with the Supreme Court Registry and if released, then those would not be utilised or any third party right would be created.”
This means no one can use these certificates or transfer them to someone else until the court makes a final decision.
The Supreme Court also said that it will hear the Karnataka government’s review petition (a request to change an earlier order) in the week starting July 21, 2025. This review petition is against an earlier order made on May 22, 2025, which had allowed the release of TDRs.
The bench clearly said,
“If the review petition is declined, the interim directions shall continue in force for four weeks from the date of passing such order or till it is heard by the three judge bench, whichever is later.”
The main civil appeal (larger legal case) will be taken up for hearing on August 18, 2025.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal argued on behalf of the Karnataka government and requested changes to the earlier directions made during contempt proceedings.
On the opposite side, senior advocates A K Ganguli and Gopal Sankaranarayanan strongly opposed the state’s claims.
They argued that the same points had already been dismissed many times before.
Ganguli questioned the state’s actions by asking,
“What is this going, they sought modification of 2014 order and three different benches have dismissed it. There has to be some law”
Sankaranarayanan also said,
“There can’t be intra court appeal.”
After hearing all arguments, the court ordered that the main civil appeals be listed before a three-judge bench in the week starting August 18, 2025.
The bench clearly stated again,
“As an interim measure, all the TDRs issued pursuant to the order passed in contempt proceedings shall remained deposited with the registry till further orders.”
To prevent further legal confusion, the court also put a stay on all earlier related orders.
It said,
“The consequential effect of order of December 10, 2024, May 17, 2022, and March 19, 2024 shall be kept in abeyance.”
This means those older court decisions will not be followed right now.
The Supreme Court clarified that this stay will not affect the final legal rights of any party, saying this was done
“Without prejudice to the rights of the parties.”
Earlier, on January 29, 2025, the Karnataka government issued the Bangalore Palace (Utilization and Regulation of Land) Ordinance 2025. This ordinance said the state had the right not to acquire certain parts of the disputed Bangalore Palace land. This came after the court’s December 10, 2024 order on issuing TDRs.
The Karnataka government also made a separate request to the Supreme Court to hear a 1997 civil appeal challenging the constitutional validity of the Bangalore Palace (Acquisition and Transfer) Act, 1996.
CASE TITLE:
SRI SRIKANTA D N WADIYAR (D) BY LR. Versus STATE OF KARNATAKA AND ORS.
C.A. No. 3303/1997
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