Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The state government on Friday said the Registrar of Public Trusts will conduct a probe into the sale of charitable properties of the Holkar family, the erstwhile rulers of the princely state of Indore.
The announcement was made following a direction by the Supreme Court a day before, an official said.
At the same time, the state government will also explore the option of filing a review petition in the apex court, she added.
“We direct the Registrar under the Public Trusts Act, having jurisdiction over Khasgi (Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Charities) Trust, to call for the record of the trust relating to all the alienations made by the trustees,” the SC said in an order on Thursday.
Officer-in-charge of the state government for the Khasgi Trust case, Sapna Shivale, told PTI that the SC declared the trust as a public trust, hence the MP Public Trusts Act, 1951 will be applicable to it.
Sub-divisional magistrates of the areas where the trust properties are located will conduct a probe into their sale (if any), she added.
Shivale, however, also said the state government is consulting legal experts as to whether the SC decision should be challenged by filling a review plea.
In October 2020, the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court made the state government the title-holder (custodian) of 246 charitable properties of the Holkar royal family, spread across the country.
The Khasgi trust challenged the order.
On Thursday, the SC said the properties belong to Khasgi Trust.
The HC's direction to the state's economic offences wing to conduct an inquiry into allegations of misappropriation against the trustees was "not warranted", it further held.
Earlier, then Indore MP Sumitra Mahajan in 2012 had written a letter to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, complaining that the trust sold it properties in Haridwar unlawfully.
The Khasgi Trust was formed after Independence to look after the charitable properties of the Holkars.
