How the Bangalore Palace (Utilisation and Regulation of Land) Bill will help Karnataka government bypass Supreme Court ruling Premium

Replacing an Ordinance that was passed earlier, the Bill reserves the Karnataka government’s right to acquire or not acquire the Palace Grounds land for the widening of the traffic-choked Ballari Road and Jayamahal Road.

Even as the opposition BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) vociferously opposed it and called it an act of “political vendetta”, the Karnataka Legislative Assembly passed the Bangalore Palace (Utilisation and Regulation of Land) Bill, 2025, on March 6. It was passed in the Legislative Council on March 10.

The legislation arises out of the nearly a decade-old contempt case over the Bangalore Palace Grounds, which the Karnataka government has been fighting with the erstwhile royal family of Mysuru in the Supreme Court.

Replacing an Ordinance that was passed earlier, the Bill reserves the Karnataka government’s right to acquire or not acquire the Palace Grounds land for the widening of the traffic-choked Ballari Road and Jayamahal Road.

Apart from helping the State government address the contempt petition, the Bill is seen as a move to circumvent the top court’s order that had earlier directed the government to compensate the Mysuru royal family with Transferable Development Rights (TDR) worth ₹3,400 crore for taking over the land.

The Bangalore Palace (Utilisation and Regulation of Land) Bill, 2025, empowers the State Government to utilise any portion of the Bangalore Palace for an infrastructure project, and to decide whether to go ahead with it, in whole or in part.

If the government proceeds with the project, it will pay the required compensation to the claimants for the portion of palace land utilised. The Bill defines “claimants” as those who have a right, title, or interest in the Bangalore Palace or the open space around it. However, if the State decides to drop the project, it holds the right to restore possession of the part of the Bangalore Palace land which was sought. While it will bear the entire expenditure for this, it will not compensate the claimants.

The Bill states that for the purpose of compensation, the guidance value will be calculated as of November 21, 1996, according to section 8 and section 9 of the Bangalore Palace (Acquisition and Transfer) Act, 1996. This is in direct contradiction to the apex court’s directions to calculate the compensation according to the guidance value of Stamps and Registration Department, revised in 2023-24, under undersection 45B of the Karnataka Stamp Act, 1957.