Nazarbaug Palace dispute: HC appoints ex-SC judge arbitrator

Petitioner Shah had claimed that he had entered into an MoU with Sangramsinh Gaekwad, his wife Asharaje and son Pratapsinh on July 7 1999, by which the royal family had made clear its intention to form a Joint Venture with Shah in the names of M/s Mivihit Developers and M/s Prasang Developers, respectively, for Mehrangadh Palace property in Juhu, Mumbai and the family’s share of the Lukshmi Vilas Palce. Shah has also produced copies of an MoU showing that the family had “sold” the 1.7 lakh sq. feet property of the Nazarbaug Palace to him in March 1999 for Rs 9.35 crore.

However, as per Shah, after the disputed properties were divided between the families of Sangramsinh and late Ranjitsinh Gaekwad, the family stopped acknowledging the agreement. Shah said that he preferred to remain silent about the agreement ,since the settlement of the family dispute in October 2013, to maintain the “goodwill” of the family but has now chosen to reveal his deal to make it known that the properties are assets of the joint venture signed by the family with his firm with “no place for third party interests.”

As per documents, Shah had given Sangramsinh’s family a cheque of Rs 1 crore on March 30, 1999 for the MoU which had to be executed on the day that the family gets clearance from the Gujarat HC to validate the sale. Shah also produced an acknowledgement receipt signed by Sangramsinh, Asharaje and Pratapsinh for Rs 1 crore.

He added that the family had not cashed the cheque after the settlement of their dispute , a pre-requisite in the Nazarbaug MoU to validate the deal. Similarly, according to the agreement to jointly develop the family’s Juhu property as well as their share in the Lukshmi Vilas Palace, Shah had agreed to “bring in the money required to help the family make their (property) title marketable,” including paying the fees of the family lawyers involved in court matters pertaining to property disputes invloved in the joint venture.

Shah had claimed that he had paid Rs 17 lakh towards the lawyers’ fees for the Mehrangadh property and Rs 16 lakh towards the dispute for the Lukshmi Vilas Palace. Shah claimed that later, the family asked them to pay some other lawyers for disputes pertaining to other properties that were not part of the clause of the joint venture. “When we refused to do so, in 2002, they told us they do not want to go ahead with our mutual agreement,” Shah’s son, Varun, had told a press conference.