Consequently the Government moved in the Lok Sabha on September 2, 1970, the Constitution Twenty fourth Amendment Bill, 1970 to delete certain provisions of the Constitution relating to the guarantees given to the Rulers about their privy purses as well as privileges.
Room was kept, for other Rulers to join later if they were so minded.
Under Art.
Lal Narayan Sinha Advocate General, for the State of Bihar, P. Singh, R. K. Garg and S. C. Agarwala, for the Advocate for the State of Bihar.
He signed the Instrument of Accession on August 15, 1947.
M. Abdul Khadar, Advocate General of Kerala and K. M. Nail , for the Advocate General for the State of Kerala.
it did number companytain an exhaustive list but was drawn up to inform Provincial and Union Governments about them.
In companyclusion I hold the orders of the President to be ultra vires and declare them to be so.
The Covenant established a Council of Rulers, with a right to elect a President to be called the Rajpramukh of the United State and one Senior Vice President and two Junior Vice Presidents.
For reasons set out in the principal petition a similar writ will issue.
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as the Minister in the newly formed Ministry of States made a speech on October 12, 1949 in the Constituent Assembly Ex.
The President and the Senior Vice President were to hold office during their lifetime and the Junior Vice Presidents for a term of five years.
The Government of India formed a Ministry of States under Sardar Vallabihbhai Patel and it was decided to secure the accession of Indian States on three subjects External Affairs and Communications.
The Government of India acted rapidly.
There were several groups of States which with due regard to geographical, linguistic, social and cultural affinities of the people companyld be companysolidated into sizable and viable units companysisting entirely of States.
Negotiations for accession of the States were soon companypleted and instruments, of accession were executed by the heads of the Indian States.
Das, Advocate General, for the State of West Bengal, S. Ray, G.S. Chatterjee and Sukumar Basu, for the Advocate General for the State of West Bengal.
L. Sijabal, the Advocate General for the State of Punjab and R. N. Sachthey, for the Advocate General for the State of Punjab.
The other Unions also came into existence near about the same time.
The Instrument of Accession was followed by Stand Still Agreement.
Art 4 provided for the retention by the Maharao of full ownership, use .and enjoyment of all private properties as distinct from State properties .
C. Mathur, for the petitioners in W.P. No, 376 of 1970 .
Accession was to be subject to the terms of the instrument.
V the Dominion Government guaranteed the succession according to law and custom to the gaddi of the State and to the Rulers personal rights privileges, dignities and titles.
On 5 July, 1947 Sardar Patel defined the policy of the Government of India by stating that the people of India were knit together by bonds of blood and feeling numberless than of self interest and numberimpassable barriers companyld be set up between us and he said that the alternative to company operation was anarchy and chaos.
On June 3, 1947 the British Government announced their plan of transfer of power in India.
Madhav Rao Scindia moved a petition on September 11, 1970, in this Court under Art.
The Rulers of smaller States were in numberposition to meet the demand.
Defence, External Affairs and Communications.
Ever since the merger of the State with the Union of India, the petitioners father and later on the petitioner was being paid the privy purse guaranteed under Art.
I the, Maharao ceded to the Dominion Government full and exclusive authority, jurisdiction and powers for and in relation to the governance of the State and agreed to transfer the administration of the State to the Dominion Government on the 1st day of June 1948.
31 1 as the petitioner was to be expropriated of his moneys and his right to receive money periodically by way of privy without any companypensation.
The Bill was declared passed with the amendment that the provisions thereof shall companye into oporeation with effect from October 15, 1970.
After the death of the petitioners father, the petitioner succeeded to the Gaddi on July 16, 1961 and thereafter he was duly recognised by the President under Art.
Defence, External Affairs and Communications.
There was special meeting of the Rulers on 25 July, 1947.
the then Ruler was to get a sum of Rs.
377 of 1970 .
The Rajpramukh was to be aided and advised by a Council of Ministers to be chosen by him and they were to hold office during his pleasure.
A. Palkhivala, M. C. Setalvad, B. G. Murdeshwar, R. Gopalakrishnan, J. B. Dadachanji, Ravinder Narain and 0.
11 lakhs per annum free of all taxes, each of his successors with effect from the date of succession was to be entitled to receive for his privy purse a sum of Rs.
J. B. Dadachanji and R. Gopalakrishnan, for the petitioners in W.P. No.
70,000/as privy purse free of taxes.
In return the Company were to protect them, one and all, against external aggression and internal rebellion.
The same night the President signed an instrument withdrawing recognition of all the Rulers and orders were issued for and on his behalf to each and every Ruler in the companyntry.
C. Setalvad, B. G. Murdeshwar.
The Rajpramukh was also given power to promulgate, Ordinances.
It companysisted of three clauses and a short statement of Objects and Reasons.
J. B. Dadachanji and R. Gopalakrishnan, for the petitioners in W.P. No.
291 of the Constitution.
They simultaneously declared that the paramountcy of the British Crown companyld number be retained number transferred to the new Government.
on September 7, 1970, the Finance Minister laid on the table of the Rajya Sabha a statement.
The guarantee given by the Dominion of India was only a political act and number a legal one.
The succession according to law and custom to the gaddi of each Covenanting State and to the personal rights, privileges, dignities and titles to the Rulers was guaranteed.
A very similar agreement was entered into with the Maharaja of Mysore on the 23rd 1 January 1950.
They agreed to part with their States and the territories so far governed by them on the basis of the assurances and guarantees given by the Dominion of India before the companymencement of the Constitution by the Government of India as companytained in the Constitution itself.
He cataloged the number of villages, palaces, museums, buildings, stables garages, fleets of motor cars, aeroplanes etc.
After obtaining his signatures, the companycerned document or documents were flown back to Delhi the same night and the impugned orders issued on September 6, 1970.
and that the payments to the Rulers represented one fourth of what they were previously enjoying.
In the reply affidavit filed by Mr. Asoka Sen Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs all the allegations and submissions besides the patent facts were denied.
By the second clause the Bill omitted Article 291 and 362 of the Constitution and the third clause omitted Article 366 22 .
The Constitution Twenty Fourth Amendment Bill 1970.
However the All India Congress Committee passed a Resolution on 25th June 1967 for their abolition.
26 lakhs per annum to the Ruler of Mysore and the lowest is Rs.
He had practically eliminated the French influence in India and brought many States under the subsidiary alliance, the numberable instances being Hyderabad, Travancore, Mysore, Baroda and Gwalior.
There was some similar provision in the cases of Mysore and Hyderabad but it is hardly necessary for the purpose of this series of petitions to go into the differences.
surrendered by the Rulers.
14 5 1970 Y. B. CHAVAN The Address of the President to the Joint Session of Parliament, the Resolution above referred to and the Statement of Objects and Reasons all gave identical reasons.
376 of 1970 .
CI/71 Sabha intituled.
But by stages the Indian States adjoining the Dominion of India merged in the Dominion of India.
6 the Dominion Government guaranteed the succession of the State according to law and custom of the gaddi of the State and to the Maharao his personal rights, privileges, ,dignities and titles.
On April 24, 1948, he signed a Covenant with several other Rulers as a result of which the State of Madhya Bharat came to be formed on June 15, 1948.
The Concord of Princes was number prepared to enter into any negotiations and were chary of a fresh settlement which might be broken just as simply as the past solemn engagements and assurances.
On the same night, the President purporting to act under cl .
After the Constitution of India came into force, the President recognised the father of the petitioner under Art.
The same was accepted by the Governor General of India on August 16, 1947.
There were separate agreements with the Nizam of Hyderabad regarding the privy purse, private property and rights and privileges entered into on the 25th January 1950.
It shows six meetings between November 3, 1967 and January 8, 1970.
These Covenants also had similar provisions with regard to privy purses and succession.
Thereafter Madhya Bharat merged with the Union of India.
This result was reached by treaties, companyenants and agreements.
Under the Instrument of Accession, he made over to the Dominion of India.
Since there was numberauthority of law and numbercompensation, the action was said to offend Articles 19 1 f and 31 of the Constitution.
He said that there was numberhing by which the Rulers companyld be forced to merge their States with India and that the Privy Purses were quid pro quo for parting with the ruling power by the Rulers and the dissolution of their States as separate units.
376 of 1970 is the person to whom the above order was directed.
2,50 000 per year as companysolidated allowances and the Junior Vice Presidents were to be paid such allowances as the Rajpramukh was to fix.
The petitioners put at the forefront the sentiments expressed at the time of the Merger of the Indian States.
There were perhaps a number of informal meetings and companysultations.
The Ruler of each Covenanting State was to be entitled to receive annually from the revenues of the United State for his privy purse, the amount mentioned free of all taxes.
The Act provided for lapse of sovereignty of the British Crown in India over the Indian States and they were free to accede to any of the two Dominions of India or Pakistan or to companytinue as independent sovereigns.
The Government of India companycurred in the Covenants and guaranteed all the provisions.
Prior to August 15, 1947, the Ruler of Gwalior was a Sovereign though his sovereignty was subject to the paramountcy of the British Crown but that paramountcy lapsed on August 15, 1947 as a result of the Indian Independence Act, 1947.
It was during his time.
377 to 383 of 1970 raise the identical question which is raised in the main petition.
The then Crown re presentative Lord Mountbatten in the companyrse of his address to the Rulers advised them to accede to the appropriate Dominion in regard to three subjects of Defence, External Affairs and Communications and assured them that their accession on these subjects would involve numberfinancial liability and in other matters there would be numberencroachment on their internal sovereignty.
The Privileges of the Rulers included many items.
These instruments were companycurred in and guaranteed by the Government of the Dominion of India.
From these documents flowed companysequences which were binding alike upon the Covenanting States, the United State of Madhya Bharat and the Government of India and the Courts .
368 of the Constitution.
In law they were free to accede to either of the two Dominions of India and Pakistan or to remain independent.
A Resolution recommending the abolition was moved and passed in the Rajya Sabha.
He shall furnish to the Raj Pramukh before the first day of August 1948 an inventory of all immovable properties, securities and cash balances held by him as such private property.
The Covenanting States agreed to unite and integrate their territories into one State with companymon Executive.
The Instruments of Accession executed by the Rulers of Indian States declared accession to the Dominion of India on three subjects, viz.,
Similar progress was also made in the direction of improving the administrative machinery of the Chief Commissioners Provinces which assimilated the centrally merged States.
The motion for introduction of the Bill was declared lost.
394 with effect from January 26, 1950.
366 22 of the Constitution as the Ruler of Gwalior.
The two important clauses in the Merger Agreements were one whereby the Ruler, was to be entitled to receive from the revenues of the State annually for his privy purse the sum mentioned therein free of taxes and the other whereby the Dominion Government guaranteed succession according to law and custom to the gaddi of the State and to the Rulers personal rights, 14 L744supCI/71 privileges,, dignities and titles.
With the issue of the States Merger Government Provinces and States Merger Chief Commissioners Provinces Orders, 1949 the position of the provincially merged States became to all intents and purposes, the same as that of the provinces.
M C. Setalvad, B.G. Murdeshwar, R. Gopalakrishnan, J. B. Dadachanji, Ravinder Narain, O.C. Mathur and Suroja Gopalakrishnan for the petitioners in W.P. No.
Barring three States the other Indian States acceded to the Dominion of India by 15 August, 1947.
A similar order known as the States Merger Chief Commissioners Provinces Order 1949 was made applicable to the centrally merged States with effect from 1 August, 1949.
381 of 1970 .
Their payment or enjoyment was a part of the guarantee of the Constitution.
They also claimed that Government was prevented by promissory estoppel and had acted in breach of a fiduciary duty.
CI/71 ment of the Dominion of India under the various Merger Agreements those liabilities came to be recognised by law and made a part of the Municipal law and thereafter they became enforceable as against the companycerned Province.
C. Gulati, Rajinder Jain, D. P. Ghosh and G. Banerjee, for the intervener in W.P. No.
Thus 216 States merged in the adjoining Provinces, 61 States were companyverted into centrally administered areas and 275 States formed Unions.
The President in his speech to the Houses gave expression to the policy of Government.
The said Dominion of India.
The Rajpramukh and the Vice President were to be paid Rs.
He claimed that the power of the President to withdraw the recognition of the Rulers was unquestioned and had also been suggested as alternative to the amendment of the Constitution, and that Government was in fact going to use the power after the adoption of the Bill amending the Constitution.
I of the agreement with the Nizam the said Ruler was to be entitled to receive annually for his privy purse a sum of Rs.
380 of 1970 .
The unification of India however thus achieved was number as a result of negotiations across the table number was it accomplished overnight in the way ordinary companytracts and engagements are entered into after some deliberation.
During the negotiations letters were written to the Rulers to assure them that the Privy Purse was fixed in prepatuity and the freedoms enjoyed by them would be companytinued.
Attorney General, Jagadish Swarup, Solicitor General R. H. Dhebar S P Nayar and S. Chakravarti, for the respondents in W.P. No.
The Marquis of Hastings who came out as a Governor General in 1813 crushed the Pindaris and finally broke the Mahratta power and carried the spread of the British dominion over numberthern and central India to a stage which it was only left for Lord Dalhousie, a quarter of a century later, to companyplete.
III of the agreement provided that although.
In the month of September, 1948 the Rulers of Covenanting States executed revised Instruments of Accession, and these were signed by the Rajpramukhs of the different Unions of States.
19 1 f and 31.
366 of the Constitution signed in his Camp at Hyderabad an Instruments withdrawing recognition of all the Rulers.
By the time he left the companyntry in 1823, the British empire in India had been formed and its map in essentials drawn.
three subjects viz.
383 of 1970 .
K. Nambyar, B. G. Murdeshwar, J. B. Dadachanji, R. Gopalakrishnan Shelandra Swarup and B. Dutta, for the petitioner in W.P. No.
that the British Dominion in India expanded companysiderably.
given to the omission from the Royal Style and Titles of the words Indiae Imperator and the words Emperor of India, and to the issue by His Majesty for that purpose of His Royal Proclamation under the Great, Seal of the Realm.
In the month of November, 1948 the Unions of States by their Rajpramukhs issued proclamations accepting the Constitution of India.
A sample order issued to the Ruler of Gwalior State may be read here No.
The Covenant was signed by all the Rulers of the Covenanting States and the Government of India endorsed on it their acceptance thus The Government of India hereby companycur in the above Covenant and guarantee all its provisions.
376 of 1970 HIDAYATULLAH, C.J. delivered a separate companycurring Judgment.
366 22 .
Those agreements also had two similar principal clauses for privy purse the sum mentioned free of taxes and guaranteed succession according to law and custom to the gaddi of the State and to the Rulers personal rights, privileges, dignities and titles.
They had only such rights and privileges as were recognized or created under the Covenants entered into by them with the Government of India and those embodied in the Constitution.
366 22 of the Constitution of India, the President hereby directs with effect from the date of this order His Highness Maharajadhi Raj Madhav Rao Jiwaji Rao Scindia Bahadur do cease to be recoginised as a Ruler of Gwalior.
Separate orders were.
This political bargain was carried into the Constitution by the insertion of Article 291 for payment of privy purse, Article 362 for companytinuance of privileges and Article 366 22 for recognition of princes, and the political character was preser 1 1964 7 S.C.R. 892 at 908 2 1964 4 S.C. R. 280 at 297 ved, by inserting Article 363 which bar the jurisdiction of the companyrt in respect of disputes, arising out of companyenants and agreements and these Articles which are related to the companyenants and agreements.
By Art.
The act of the President was thus said to offend Articles 53, 394, 295 291 and 362 of the Constitution.
The remaining at first formed themselves into different Unions of States, making over the administration of their States to a Rajpramukh of the Union of the States vesting in him all rights, authority and jurisdiction belonging to the Ruler which appertained to or were incidental to the Government of the Covenanting States.
According to the petitioners the gaddi of a Ruler had to be filled in accordance with the law and custom of the family and companyld number be left vacant.
378 of 1970 .
IV the Government of India guaranteed the succession according to law and custom to the gaddi of the State.
The Judgment of SHAH, SIKRI, SHELAT, BHARGAVA, VAIDIALINGAM, GROVER and DUA, JJ.
377 of 1970 .
2 the Maharao was to be entitled to companytinue the same personal rights, privileges, dignities and titles which he would have enjoyed had the agreement number been made.
They based their claim number on the agreements or the companyenants but on the companystitutional provisions.
Government of India repeated their intention of withdrawing the recognition of the Rulers and stoppage of the Privy Purses and Privileges, and was prepared only for a negotiated settlement as to the terms on which the abolition should take place.
The Privy Purses were fixed with due regard to the incomes of the Rulers, before integration with a ceiling of Rs.
He is a national and citizen of India and was recognised by the President of India as a Ruler on 16th July 1961 as the successor to the gaddi of the State of Gwalior on the death of the preceding Ruler of the State.
The same night the President signed at Hyderabad an instrument withdrawing recognition of all the Rulers.
In such cases, territories of States were united to form Unions of States on the basis of full transfer of power from the Rulers to the people.
He regarded this as a small price for the bloodless revolution and avoidance of mischief.
C in which he pointed out that the Madhya Bharat Rajpramukh alone gave sufficient cash assets which, if invested, would companyer payments to the Rulers as Privy Purses.
After their merger the Rulers of those States had ,no ruling powers.
Under Art 3 the Maharao was to be entitled with effect from the said day to receive from the revenues of the State annually for his ,privy purse the sum of Rs.
Further agreements were devised for each of such other States as might join later and the Government of India companycurred in the same way with such agreements.
The Rajpramukh had jurisdiction to make laws for the peace and good Government of those areas whether with or without companysultation with his Council of Ministers but subject to direction or instructions of the Government of India.
July 1, 1948 was fixed for making over the administration of the Covenanting States to the Rajpramukh including a transfer of all assets and liabilities of the State and of the Scheduled Areas.
The merged States were either directly administered by the Dominion Government as Chief Commissioners Provinces or were handed over to the neighboring Provinces.
Under the States Merger Governors Provinces Order, 1949 the provincially merged States were to, be administered in all respects as if they formed part of the absorbing Provinces and all laws including orders made under the Extra Provincial Jurisdiction Act, 1947 were to companytinue in force until repealed or modified.
Full credit for the same goes number only to the Ministry of States led by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel but also to the Rulers of the hundreds of Indian States who realised that in the interest of the people of their States as also their personal interest it was necessary for them to companye to terms with the Government of India.
the Statement read The companycept of rulership, with Privy Purses and Special Privileges unrelated to any current functions and social purposes, is incompatible with an egalitarian social order.
The State of Kutch along with other States was to be administered by and under this Order in all respects as if they were a Chief Commissioners Province to be known as the Chief Commissioners Province of Kutch.
Article III provided for the companystitution of a Council of Rulers with a President known as the Rajpramukh.
The late Ruler had signed an instrument of Accession on the 15th August 1947 which was accepted by the then Governor General of India on the 16th August 1947.
Deprivation of privy purses and other rights without authority of law companytravenes Art.
The petitioner is also disentitled to the management and administration of the Gangajali Fund Trust.
192 per annum to the Ruler of Kotodia.
The recognition as a Ruler was number an empty formality.
It will number be out of place to set out what Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel said in the Constitutent Assembly on 12th October 1949 in regard to the settlements with the Rulers.
The same evening the Cabinet is said to have met and to have decided to advise the President to withdraw the recognition of the Rulers.
By that Instrument he was to accept the making of laws by the Dominion Legislature on all matters mentioned in Lists I and III of the Seventh Schedule to the Government of India Act 1935 except the entries in List I relating to any tax or duty.
50 lakhs free of all taxes.
He resumed Wellesleys policy by extending the Companys supremacy and protection over almost all the Indian States.
The same evening the Union Cabinet met and decided to advise the President to withdraw the recognition of the Rulers so that the privy purses and privileges guaranteed to the Rulers may be abolished.
There were differences in the Merger Agreements as to the amount of privy purse and in some cases as to the rights of successors to Rulers with regard to privy purses.
The companyenant was signed by the Ruler as Ruler and it was guaranteed by the Government of India.
On November 24, 1949, on the passing of the Constitution of India, the Rajpramukh issued a Proclamation after a resolution of the Covenanting Rulers.
The Merger Agreements came into existence near about the months of April and May, 1948.
In supporting their petition under Article 32, the petitioners claimed that important questions of deprivation of property and of personal liberty were involved.
The petitioner in Writ Petition No.
Niren De, Attorney General, Jagadish Swarup, Solicitor General R. H. Dhebar and S. P. Nayar, for respondents in P. No.
In case of dispute the matter was to be referred to such officers with judicial experience as the Dominion government might numberinate and the decision was to be binding on both parties.
Residents became gradually transformed into diplomatic agents representing a foreign power into executive and companytrolling officers of a superior government.
The Stand Still Agreement between the Ruler and the Dominion of India provided that until new agreements were made all agreements and administrative arrangements as to matters of companymon companycern then existing between the Crown and the Indian States should, in so far as might be appropriate, companytinue as between the Dominion of India or as the case might be, the part thereof, and the State.
Orders like the above were issued in the case of each and every individual Ruler of an Indian State numbering over three hundred and sixty.
was delivered by SHAH, J. HEGDE, J. delivered a separate companycurring judgment.
He is also entitled to other rights and privileges arising from the Covenants.
Hidayatullah, C.J On September 6, 1970, the President of India passed a laconic order in respect of each of the Rulers of former Indian States.
The Presidents action robbed the articles of their companytent which Parliament did number allow to be done and thus the order of the President indirectly had the effect of amending the Constitution.
It was companysidered in the Rajya Sabha ,on September 5, 1970 and was defeated, 149 voting for and 75 against it.
The Covenant was an Act of State on the part of the Rulers.
ORIGINAL JURISDICTION Writ Petitions Nos.
As such Ruler the petitioner was being paid a privy purse of Rs.10,00,000.
Under the States Merger Order, 1949 provision was made for representation of the merged States in the Legislature of the absorbing Province,, the apportionment of assets and liabilities as between the Centre and the Provinces and the institution of suits and other proceedings against the Government and the companytinuance of pending proceedings.
By article 2 the Raja was to receive annually a sum of Rs.
The Privy Purses and the Privileges were companytinued till 6th September 1970.
C. Setalvad, B. G. Murdeshwar.
10 lacs per year.
They may be quoted here In the exercise of the power of Parliament or of the Legislature of a State to make laws or in the exercise of the executive power of the Union or of a State due regard shall be had to the guarantee or assurance given under any such companyenant or agreement as is referred to in clause 1 of article 291 with respect to the personal rights, privileges and dignities of the Ruler of an Indian State.
The Privy purse was in substance and in reality companypen sation for the transfer by Rulers of inter alia their properties.
The petitioner is entitled to a ,privy purse of Rs.
The Extra Provincial Jurisdiction Act 1947 was passed giving power to the Central Government to ,exercise extra Provincial jurisdiction over a State only if it had by a treaty agreement etc.
MITTER and RAY, JJ.
On the strength of these orders, the Government of India asserts that all the Rulers in India had been derecognized and companysequently numbere of them is entitled to the rights and privileges to which they were entitled as Rulers.
Admittedly this followed the signing of an instrument by the President on the night of 5th September 1970 purporting to withdraw recognition of all the Rulers.
The Rulers of Centrally merged States also entered into similar agreements with the Dominion of India.
is hereafter in this Act referred to as the Dominion and the said fifteenth day of August is hereafter in this Act referred to as the date of the establishment of the Dominion.
Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of States.
By then 23 Rulers bad joined the United State.
The identity of the United State as a semi independent unit was preserved and the companystitutional framework of this State was indicated.
The Rajpramukh and the Vice Presidents were to enter upon their duties on 11th May 1948.
He hinted that arrangements would be made to enable Rulers to make adjustments in the transitory period.
He gave as his reason for the Presidents action that the Bill amending the Constitution was lost by a fraction of a vote in one of the Houses, that there was widespread support against this out moded and antiquated system of Privy Purses, that even those who opposed the Bill supported the abolition and that it was Governments policy to put an and to the companycept of Rulership and the abolition of Privy Purses and the Privileges.
By article 4, the Raja, the Rajmata, the Yuvraj and the Yuvrani were to enjoy all personal privileges en joyed by them within and without the territories immediately before the 15th day of August 1947.
The Rajpramukh was to execute by 15th June 1948 a fresh Instrument of Accession in place of the separate Instruments already executed by the Covenanting Rulers.
Under the Madhya Bharat Gangajali Fund Trust Act, 1954, enacted by the State Legislature the Ruler of the State of Gwalior is one of the three trustees authorised to manage the Gangajali Fund settled by the State and to apply the income thereof for charitable purposes.
2,50,000 to the Rajpramukh from the revenues of the United State as company solidated allowance.
The Constitution of India was promulgated on November 26, 1949, and was brought into force except for certain articles specified in Art.
77 crores and that palaces in Delhi alone were worth several lakhs of rupees.
10 lakhs.
to the gaddi of the State and to the Rajas perso nal rights, privileges dignities and titles.
The terms of the agreements were on similar lines.
Article IV provided inter alia for payment of a sum of Rs.
India and in England by the Regulating Act of 1773, under which the Governor of Bengal became the Governor General in Council with a certain amount of companytrol over the Presidencies of Bombay and Madras.
As an illustration I may refer to the Bilaspur Merger agreement.
The Princes were then described as imbued with imagination, foresight and patriotism and as companyarchitects of a democratic and united India.
He set up a system under which numberIndian State which had accepted subsidiary alliance with the British companyld make any war or carry on negotiations with another State without the Companys knowledge and companysent.
The order was served by a Secretary to Government of India.
The companyenant guaranteed to each head of companyenanting State payment of the amount specified therein as his privy purse out of the revenues of the United State to full ,ownership, use and enjoyment of all private properties belonging to him on the date of making over the administration of the State to the Rajpramukh to succession to the gaddi of the State accord ing to law and custom and to all personal privileges, dignities and titles enjoyed by him within and outside the territories of his State immediately before the 15th day of August, 1947.
Another Order known as the Stages Merger Chief Commis sioners Provinces Order, 1949 was promulgated on the 29th July 1949.
Under Art.
By Article II the Covenanting States agreed to unite and integrate their territories into one State with a companymon executive, legislature and judiciary and to include therein any other State the Ruler of which agreed with the approval of the Government of India to the merger of his State in the United State.
14, 19 1 f , 21 as per amendment allowed and 31 1 and.
K. Nambyar.
On April 22, 1948, twenty heads of States in the Madhya Bharat region executed a companyenant to form the United State of Gwalior, Indore and Malwa.
25,00,000 to the Ruler of Gwalior to Rs.
Writ petitions Nos.
26 lakhs free of all taxes as and by way of privy purse per annum but provision was to be made subsequently by the Government of India with regard to his successor.
It is to be found at p. 165 of the White Paper on Indian States and is exhibited with the Petition as Ex.
Nothing seems to have been achieved.
A British Resident was also installed in every State that accepted the subsidiary alliance.
Accession of Indian States An Indian State shall be deemed to have acceded to the Dominion if the Governor General has signified his acceptance of an Instrument of Accession executed by the Ruler thereof whereby the Ruler on behalf of the State a declares that he accedes to the Dominion with the intent that the Governor General, the Dominion Legislature, the Federal Court and any other Dominion authority established for the purposes of the Dominion shall, by virtue of his Instrument of Accession but subject al ways to the terms thereof, and for the purposes only of the Dominion exercise in relation to the State such functions as may be vested in them by order under this Act and b assumes the obligation of ensuring that due effect is given within the State to the provisions of this Act so far as they are applicable therein by virtue of the Instrument of Accession.
The total amount of the Privy Purses came to Rs.
382 of 1970 .
B G. Murdeshwar.
21/14/70 Poll.
The other petitions are identical except for some details which are special to a particular Ruler but are number material for the discussion of the issues involved.
Under Art.
I shall number say something in more detail about these several steps.
C. Chagla, B. G. Murdeshwar, J. B. Dadachanji, R. Gopalakrishnan and Suroja Gopalakrishnan, for the petitioners in W.P. No.
The Indian Independence Act was to companye into existence on 15 August, 1947.
The President was thus guilty of a breach of his duties under the Constitution and acted outside his jurisdiction.
The vast power to withdraw recognition from all the Rulers at the same time without numberinating any successor companyld number and did number flow from the definition of a Ruler in Article 366 22 which companytemplated the Continuance of a Ruler who had signed the Merger Agreement or his successor.
These Revised Instruments of Accession were accepted by the Governor General on behalf of the Dominion of India.
On September 5, 1970, the motion for companysideration of the Bill did number obtain, in the Rajya Sabha, the requisite majority of number less than two thirds of the Members present and voting as required by Art.
These petitions were then filed to question the action of the President and the Government of India.
the relevant ones may be numbered here.
ARTICLE XII The Ruler of each Covenanting State shall be entitled to the full ownership, use and enjoyment of all private properties as distinct from State properties belonging to him on the date of his making over the administration of that State to the Raj Pramukh.
In companyfirmation whereof Mr. Vapal Pangunni Menon, Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of States, appends his signature on behalf and with the authority of the Government of India.
A memo randum on these privileges was issued by the Ministry of States in 1949.
Five more States joined the United State of Gwalior, Indore and Malwa Madhya Bharat with effect from July 1, 1948.
Then came the States Merger Governors Provinces Order 1949, an order made under s. 290 A of the Government of India Act, 1935.
Neither the companyenants number the Merger agreements number any provision of the Constitution relating to the companyenants or the Merger agreements companyfer any legal right on the petitioner or on any erstwhile Ruler.
P. SINGH Secretary to the Government of India All these orders were numberified together in the Gazette of India of September 19, 1970, Part II.
This Instrument of Accession was similar to those which the other Rulers signed on diverse dates.
The population of this area formed 28 per cent of the total population of the Dominion.
The same sentiments were reiterated by Mr. V. P. Menon who was the Secretary to the Ministry in his recent book The Story of the Integration of the Indian States, 1961 pp.
Merger of States in the Provinces geographically companytinuous to them was one form of integration the second was companyversion of States into Centrally administered areas and the third form was the creation of new viable units known as Unions of States.
Rameshwar Nath and S. Nayar, for the respondent in W. P. No.
They resulted in the forthwith stoppage of the Privy Purses received by the Rulers and the discontinuance of their personal privileges.
Niren De.
The Rajpramukh was to companystitute number later than August 1, 1948 an interim Legislative Assembly for the United State in accordance with the provisions set out in Schedule, IV till the formation of the Constituent Assembly which was then to perform legislative functions as well.
gave dissenting Opinions.
guaranteed by the Government of India before the Constitution were all political agreements born out of political bargains to achieve integration of Indian States with the Dominion of India.
In companysequence a writ of mandamus shall issue number to enforce the orders.
The Merger Agreements were entered into by the Rulers with the Dominion of India.
These two principal clauses are to be found in all Merger Agreements.
According to The petition the order of the 6th September violated Articles.
378 of 1970 .
The merged States were either incorporated in the existing Governors Provinces or, were administered centrally as Chief Commissioners Provinces.
Mitter, J. On the 6th September, 1970 there was issued in the name of the President an order of the following text In exercise of the powers vested in him under Art.
According to him, the price paid as Privy Purses was number too high for integration and indeed it was insignificant when companypared with what the Rulers had lost.
Each petitioner will get his companyts of the petition.
The Rajpramukh shall cause the said amount to be paid to the Ruler in four equal instalments at the beginning of each quarter in advance.
The then Maharaja was to receive Rs.
Ram Panjuwani and S. P. Nayar, for the respondents in W.P. No.
This judgment and order will govern all these petitions.
They were Hyderabad, Mysore and Jammu and Kashmir.
The Indian States companyered about 48 per cent of the area of the Indian Dominion.
461 and 462.
The sum included Rs.
All this was done in the companyrse of about two years, a feat unparalled in history.
per year and was also entitled to certain rights and privileges under various statutes.
383 of 1970 .
Since the issues involved in all the petitions are companymon and there are only minor differences in the steps before the States merged with the Indian Union, it is sufficient if an illustrative petition is dealt with.
The Company entered into treaties with Indian States in the early stages aiming at numbermore than securing for the Company a privileged position in trade against its rivals.
Niren De.
58 crores.
These Covenants provided for a Council of Rulers with the Rajpramukh as the President of the Council.
acquired full and exclusive authority and jurisdiction and power for an in relation to the governance of the State.
376 to 383 of 1970.
III Government of India Ministry of Home Affairs New Delhi the 6th September 1970 ORDER In exercise of the power vested in him under Article 366 22 of the Constitution, the President hereby directs that with effect from the date of this Order His Highness Maharajdhiraja Madhav Rao Jiwaji Rao Scindia Bahadur do cease to be recognised as the Ruler of Gwalior.
The Ruler of the Gwalior State succeeded to the gaddi of the State on July 16, 1961 on the demise of his father.
Articles XI to XV were as follows ARTICLE XI The Ruler of each Covenanting State shall be entitled to receive annually from the revenues of the.
They had their Concord, their Intendant General and Conciliar Committee, thereby evoking a certain measure of hostility among persons who were oblivious of the companystitutional transition in India.
There were 562 Indian States whereof 216 merged in Provinces, 61 were taken over as centrally administered areas and 275 integrated in different Unions of States.
It was however expressly provided by clause 6 as follows The terms of this Instrument of Accession shall number be varied by any amendment of the Act or of the Indian Independence Act, 1947, unless such amendment is accepted by the Raj Pramukh of the United State by an Instrument supplementary to this Instrument.
For the first time the Parliament of England asserted its authority and companytrol over the East India Companys activities both in.
Each of these forms was adopted according to size, geo graphy and other factors relating to each State or group of States.
It companytained an itemised list of 34 privileges.
Although shorn of all but a shadow of their former power and panoply, the Rulers seemed to regard themselves as something different from the people or perhaps, as princes in exile.
However in the case of small States responsible Government companyld have only proved a farce.
A fresh Instrument of Accession was executed by the Raj pramukh on behalf of the United State of Madhya Bharat.
The Bill originally gave numberindication of the date when the Act was to companye into operation but in the Lok Sabha an amendment was accepted by which it was to companye into force from October 15, 1970.
The rest of the provisions are number material for my discussion.
The British Parliament decided to set up the two Dominions of India and Pakistan, and promulgated on July 18, 1947, the Indian Independence Act, 1947.
On the companying into force of the Constitution of India, the State of Madhya Bharat became a Part B State.
If treated as an Act of State it ended with the recognition.
Petitions under Art.
The Bill was voted upon in the Lok Sabha on September 2, 1970.
As illustrations the petitioners companytended that the right to receive Privy Purses was a right to property of which the Rulers stood deprived as also of other personal properties and benefits of exemptions under diverse laws was also an inroad upon property rights.
By s. 1, two new independent Dominions of India and Pakistan were set up as from August 15, 1947, and s. 7 of the Act provided As from the appointed day His Majestys Government in the United Kingdom have numberresponsibility as respects the government of any of the territories which, immediately before that day, were included in British India b the suzerainty of His Majesty over the Indian States lapses, and with it, all treaties and agreements in force at the date of the passing of this Act between His Majesty and the rulers of Indian States, all obligations of His Majesty at that, date, towards Indian States or the rulers thereof and all powers, rights, authority or jurisdic tion exercisable by His Majesty at that date in or in relation to Indian States by treaty, grant, usage, suffrance or other wise and Provided that, numberwithstanding anything in paragraph b or paragraph c of the sub section, effect shall, as nearly as may be companytinued to be given to the provisions of any such agreement as is therein referred to which relate to Customs, transit and companymunications, posts and telegraphs, or other like matters, until the provisions in question are denounced by the ruler of the Indian State or person having ,authority in the tribal areas on the one hand, or by the Dominion or Province or other part thereof companycerned on the, other hand, or are superseded by subsequent agreements, The assent of the Parliament of the United Kingdom is hereby.
Mohan Kumaramangalam, Ram Murthi.
They ask for a writ, direction or order, declaring the Presidential Order to be unconstitutional, mala fide, ultra vires and void, and for quashing it, a writ, direction or order declaring that the several petitioners companytinue to be Rulers and thus to be entitled to their respective Privy Purses and personal rights and privileges and a further writ, direction or order directing the Union of India to companytinue to pay the Privy Purses as before and to recognise the personal rights to privileges and to observe the, provisions of the Covenants and Merger Agreements.
The third type of integration was the formation of a Union of States whereby certain States described as the Covenanting States entered into a Union of States with a companymon executive, legislative and judiciary.
On the merger or integration of the States with the Union of India the Rulers were left with a Privy Purse and a few of their personal privileges and properties.
This in short is the companystitutional history of the States which united to form the United State of Madhya Bharat.
By his order dated August 22, 1961, the President recognised the petitioner as the Ruler of Gwalior.
379 of 1970 .
9 lakhs per annum free of all taxes.
On 22nd April, 1948 the said preceding Ruler of the State had signed a companyenant with the other Rulers of various States in Central India which led to the formation of the Madhya Bharat State on the 15th June 1948.
After the death of Jivaji Rao the President recognized Madhav Rao petitioner herein as the Ruler of Gwalior.
376 of 1970.
J. B. Dadachanji and R. Gopalakrishnan, for the petitioner in W.P. No.
United States for his privy purse the amount specified against that Covenanting State in Schedule I Provided that the sums specified in the Schedule in respect of the Rulers of Gwalior and Indore shall be payable only to the present Rulers of these States and number to their successors for whom provision will be made subsequently.
1 Until new agreements in this behalf are made, all agreements and administrative arrangements as to matters of companymon companycern number existing between the Crown and any Indian State shall, insofar as may be appropriate, companytinue as between the Dominion of India, or, as the case may be, the part thereof, and the State.
The Covenant for the United State of Madhya Bharat came into existence in the month of April, 1948.
Pursuant to the merger agreements, it was proclaimed on November 24, 1949, that the United State of .Madhya Bharat adopted the Constitution of India as the Constitution of the United State.
By Art.
Solicitor General, R. R.Dhebar and S. P. Nayar, far the respondent in P. No.
381 of 1970 .
On .July 19, 1948, Jivaji Rao executed on behalf of the United State of Gwalior, Indore and Malwa Madhya Bharat a revised instrument of accession.
For an other instance of integration through Merger Agree ment I may refer to the Kutch Merger Agreement dated 4th May, 1948 between the Governor General of India and the, Maharao of Kutch.
It companysisted of five articles.
It failed in the Rajya Sabha to reach the requisite majority of number less than two thirds of the members present and voting.
were extensively amended, setting up machinery for the Indian States to accede to the Dominion of India.
Under Art.
Consequently the Ruler ,of Gwalior as well as other Rulers became absolute Sovereigns.
Jagadish Swarup, Solicitor General.
Shah, J. On August 15, 1947, Maharajadhiraja Jivaji Rao Scindia of Gwalior hereinafter called Jivaji Rao executed in instrument of accession stipulating that the Governor General of India, the Dominion Legislature, the Federal Court of India, and other Dominion authorities shall for the purpose of the Dominion, exercise in relation to the State of Gwalior, such functions as may be vested in them by the Government of India Act, 1935, in respect of Defence, External Affairs, Communications and matters ancillary thereto.
and shall subject to the provisions of paragraph 1 neither be increased number reduced for any reason what soever.
But with regard to his successors provision was to be made subsequently by the Government of India.
All the Rulers including the Rajpramukhs of the Unions issued proclamations of which reference has earlier been made in relation to Gwalior.
The President of India recognized Jivaji Rao as the Ruler of Gwalior.
IV the Raja and certain other persons were to be entitled to all personal privileges enjoyed by them whether within or outside the territories of the State immediately before the 15th August, 1947.
6,000 to the Rubber of Mathwar.
issued to all the Rulers on the 6th September 1970 and they were also numberified in the Gazette as already mentioned.
Government have therefore decided to terminate the Privy Purses and Privileges of the Rulers of former Indian States.
A. On April 22, 1948 the father, as Ruler, signed a Covenant with other Rulers of this area and the United States of Madhya Bharat was formed on June 15, 1948.
That bill was passed in the Lok Sabha but it failed to get the requisite majority in the Rajya Sabha.
In furtherance of this resolution the Union Home Ministry held several companyferences with the representatives of the Rulers.
Under this system of subsidiary alliance the bigger states were to maintain armies companymanded by British officers for preservation of the public peace and their rulers were to cede certain territories for the upkeep of these forces the smaller States were to pay a tribute to the Company.
The Government of India companytinued to pay the privy purse and accoredd to him the privileges specified in the instrument of accession and the merger agreement, except those which were modified by statutes.
These amounts were to companyer all expenses and were number to be increased number reduced for any reason whatsoever.
The Merger agreement was signed by the Raja and Mr. V. P. Menon, Secretary in the Ministry of States.
382 of 1970 .
These writ petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution were filed by some of the Rulers as test cases to question the orders.
Attorney General, Jagdish Swarup.
Defence, External Affairs and Communications and thereafter stage by stage drew them closer to the Dominion of India and finally persuaded them to merge with the Dominion of India.
It may be numbered that this Order was made long before the Constitution came into force.
Only three States retained their integrity but when the Constitution came into force, they too became part of the Union of India on a later date.
Such agreements were to form part of the Instrument of Accession.
By order and in the name of the President.
On August 15, 1947 the father had signed an Instrument of Accession of his state to the Dominion of India, as then established, and it was accepted by the Governor General of India on the following day.
transit, companymunications, posts and telegraphs or other like matters until the provisions in question were denounced by the Ruler of the Indian State or by the Dominion or Province or were superseded by subsequent agreements.
380 of 1970 .
The said amount is intended to companyer all the expenses of the Ruler and his family including expenses of his residence, marriages and other ceremonies, etc.
On May 16, 1946, the Cabinet Mission announced its Plan for the entry of the States into the proposed Union of India.
The Government of India merely accorded them recognition and guaranteed its provisions.
The preamble shows that the agreement was being entered into in the best interests of the State of Kutch as well as of the the Dominion of India to provide for the administration of said State by or under the authority of the Dominion Government.
They ranged from Rs.
On the passing of the Constitution Seventh Amendment Act 1956, Madhya Bharat State ceased to be a Part B State and was integrated with the State of Madhya Pradesh as provided under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
Special provisions were made for avoiding legislative companyflict, and for any future agreement between the Rajpramukh and the Government of India.
This process was carried on during the regime of Hastings and Dalhousie.
According to them, the order of the President was in violation of the spirit and meaning of Articles 366 22 , 291 and 362 and was an affront to Parliament which had turned down the move for amendment of these articles.
It affirmed the companystitutional relationship between the United State and the Dominion of India and provided as follows PROCLAMATION FOR MADHYA BHARAT Gwalior, the 24th November 1949 WHEREAS with the inauguration of the new Con stitution for the whole of India number being framed by the Constituent Assembly of India, the Government of India Act, 1935, which number governs the companystitutional relationship between .this State and the Dominion of India, will stand repealed AND WHEREAS, in the best interests of the State of Madhya Bharat, which is closely linked with the rest of India by a companymunity of interests in the economic, political and other fields, it is desirable that the companystitutional relationship established between this State and the Dominion of India, should number only be companytinued as between this State and the companytemplated Union of India but further strengthened, and the Constitution of India as drafted by the Constituent Assembly of India, which includes duly.
As from that day the Dommion Government was to be companypetent to exercise the said powers, authority and jurisdiction in such manner and through such agency as it might think fit.
It may be regarded also as such by the Government of India although numbervolition beyond companycurrence, of the Government Played any Part whatever might I have been the diplomatic companysultations between the acceding United State and the Government of India.
Every State in India outside the Punjab and Sind was under the Companys companytrol.
The Instruments of Accession were executed in furtherance of the Indian Independence Act, 1947.
It is apparent that the Instrument of Accession and the Covenants operated as a companystitution in little for the governance of the United State.
It was executed on the 15th August 1948 by the Raja of Bilaspur.
The Marquis of Wellesley as the Governor General felt companyvinced when he came to India in 1798 and saw the state of affairs here that the British must become the one paramount power in the companyntry.
The summary of the proceedings of these companyferences were marked companylectively as Annexure A annexed to the affidavit of the Union of India.
appointed representatives of this State, provides a suitable basis for doing so I, Jiwajirao Madhavrao Scindia, Raj Pramukh of the Madhya Bharat, number hereby declare and direct That the Constitution of India shortly to be adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India shall be the Constitution for the Madhya Bharat as for the other parts of India and shall be enforced as such in accordance with the tenor of its provisions That the provisions of the said Constitution shall, as from the date of its companymencement supersede and abrogate all other companystitutional provisions inconsistent therewith which are at present in force in this State.
The influence of the companypany over the internal administration of the States rapidly increased ,during the period following the retirement of Lord Hastings.
The executive authority of the United State subject to the provisions of the Covenant and a Constitution to be framed later was to be exercised by the Rajpramukh and the companypetant Legislature of the United State was to be given the companypetence to companyfer functions upon the subordinate authorities but the Covenant was number to be deemed to transfer to the Rajpramukh any functions companyferred by any existing law on any Court, Judge, officer or local or other authority in a Covenanting State.
A Bill was then moved in the Lok 4 L744Sup.
By article 3 the Raja was entitled to the full ownership, use and enjoyment of all private properties as distinct from State properties belonging to him, and he was to furnish an inventory of such properties.
There was a duty cast upon the Government of India to respect and implement the provisions of the Merger agreements and the Covenants.
Niren De, Attorney General, Jagadish Swarup, Solicitor General, S. T. Desai, Amiva K. Basu N. H. Hinoorani, R. H. Dhebar, S. P. Nayar, for the respondents in W.P. No.
The Covenant next provided for the setting up, as soon as possible, of a Constituent Assembly in the manner set out in the Third Schedule to the Covenant to frame a Constitution of a unitary type for the United State within the framework of the Covenant and the Constitution of India and for providing a Government responsible to the Legislature.
The motion for companysideration of the bill was rejected at about 4 30 p.m. on September 5, 1970.
He exhorted the Constituent Assembly that the Indian Peoples on their part should ensure fully the guarantee given to them and companycluded Our failure to do so would be a breach of faith and seriously prejudice the stabilization of the New Order.
From about 1967, there was a move in the ruling party to abolish the privy purses guaranteed to the Rulers under the Constitution as well as the privileges guaranteed to them under the Covenants and agreements and recognised in Art.
Hence this Bill.
10,000/ as an allowance for the Yuvraj.
The Presidents order itself was said to be mala fide, ultra vires since his power was to recognise a Ruler at a time and for the time being or to withdraw recognition from a Ruler for companyent and valid reasons, naming in his place a successor, and number to withdraw recognition from all Rules en masse for numberreason except that the companycept of Rulership was companysidered outmoded or that some persons held the view that it should number be companytinued.
By article 5 the Dominion government guaranteed the succession, according to law and custom.
3 744Sup CI/71 M. Hazarnavis, R. N. Sachthey and Vineet Kumar, for the Advocate General, Maharashtra.
The said amount shall be free of all taxes whether imposed by the Government of the United State or by the Government of India.
In this judgment I shall refer to the petition filed by the Ruler of Gwalior which is first on my list and embraces almost all the varying aspects of the question.
The Governor General of India accepted this Instrument of Accession on September 13, 1948.
The petitioner will get his companyts of the petition.
332 votes for and 154 votes against it, were cast.
Legislature and Judiciary.
It was also an Act of State on the part of the Rulers who surrendered their lights but the provisions that they evolved for the joint governance of their territories made a companystitution proper of which the Courts were to take judicial numberice and apply according to their tenor as occasion demanded.
Today the highest Privy Purse is Rs.
of these the former does number apply to the State of Jammu and Kashmir, but the latter does.
8 lakhs free of all taxes.
A. Palkhivala, M. C. Setalvad, B. C. Murdeshwar, J. B. Dadachanji R. Gopalakrishnan and R. N. Banerjee, for the petitioners in W.P. No.
By the first article the Raja ceded to the Dominion government full and exclusive authority, jurisdiction and powers for and in relation to the governance of the State, agreeing to transfer the administration on October 12, 1948.
379 of 1970 .
None of them companyld avoid these companysequences.
They included several exemptions from the operation of Indian Laws, the enjoyment of Jagir and personal property of the Rulers and members of their families, the payment by the States of the marriage expenses of the brothers and sisters of the Rulers, immunity from some processes of companyrts of law, immunity from requisitioning of the private properties of the Rulers and their families and so on and so forth.
The Standstill Agreements recited Whereas it is to the benefit and advantage of the Dominion of India as well as of the Indian States that existing agreements and administrative arrangements in the matters of companymon companycern, should companytinue for the time being between the Dominion of India or any part thereof and the Indian States Now therefore it is agreed between the State and the Dominion of India that 1.
The Merger agreements were much simpler documents.
Simultaneously, Standstill Agreements, the acceptance of which was made by the Government of India a companydition of accession by the States companycerned, were also entered into between the Dominion Government and the acceding States.
Eleven Rulers were to be paid more than that sum as a personal Privy Purse.
To those Covenants, the Dominion of India was number a party.
8 lakhs would be paid to the Maharao in four equal installments in advance.
The Government of India undertook that the said sum of Rs.
Therein the petitioners case is as follows His father was the Ruler of Gwalior prior to August 15, 1947.
The Rulers who, before Independence, had always displayed the sentiment Ego et rex meus had realised that Princes were number the only people in Whose word trust should number be placed.
Similar Merger agreements were signed by the Rulers of Gujarat and Deccan States.
On the companying into force of the Constitution all the former Rulers of the Indian States that had merged with the Dominion of, India as well as their quantum subjects became citizens of India having all the rights and duties of citizens of this companyntry.
