The High Court has put restriction on financial transactions of Karni Charitable Fund Trust of Bikaner Royal Family. Acting upon the petition of former chairman of the trust Hanuwant Singh, the court has put a limit on withdrawal of money from trust's bank account to Rs 50,000 a month to meet daily expenses.
The court has also ordered existing trustees not to sell any property under trust and restricted them from creating rights for anyone else.
The court has directed Devasthan department of state government to resolve the dispute related to the trusteeship of Karni Charitable Fund Trust of Bikaner Royal Family, which owns properties worth hundreds of crores.
Sidhi Kumari, member of erstwhile Bikaner royal family and BJP MLA from Bikaner East, refused to comment on the decision of High Court
What is the dispute of Karni Charitable Fund Trust?
Before November 2023, Hanuwant Singh, who is related to Bikaner royal family was the chairman of the trust while Sidhi Kumari, grand daughter of former Maharaja Karni Singh was one of the trustees. Other trustees included Rajshree Kumari and Madhulika Kumari, both daughters of former Maharaja Karni Singh.
In November 2023, Sidhi Kumari became chairperson of the trust and replaced all the trustees including Hanumant Singh and the two daughters of Karni Singh.
Sidhu Kumari made her confidantes Madan Singh, Manish Kumar Sharma, Dheeraj Bhojak and Sanjay Sharma as trustees.
The ousted chairman Hanuwant Singh protested to these proceedings and filed a case with the High Court.
Hanuwant Singh alleged that he was removed from the post of chairman illegally and the Devasthan department rejected his application without considering the facts.
Role of devasthan department under scanner
According to the petition, the Karni Charitable Fund Trust, in October 2023, under the chairmanship of Hanumant Singh had removed Sidhi Kumari from the trust.
The trust alleged that Kumari was involved in activities, which were damaging the trust. The Devasthan department, however, didn't accepted the proceedings of the trust.
On the other hand, when Sidhi Kumari, a month later submitted documents of a fresh office bearers, the devasthan department accepted the papers and ruled in favour of Sidhi Kumari, who became the new chairperson.
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