Thiruvananthapuram: Staking claim on the Travancore House, in the heart of the national capital, the erstwhile Travancore royal family has asked Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to intervene and stop the inauguration of a cultural centre by the state government there on August 4.

In a letter addressed to the Chief Minister, the Kowdiar Palace has claimed ownership of the 14-acre prime property in the heart of New Delhi, saying that around 8.195 acres of it was allotted to the Maharaja of Travancore in 1915 for residential purposes at a cost of Rs 1,800 per acre and the remaining portion was purchased by him in 1934 utilising his personal funds.

Similar to the letters addressed by the erstwhile royal family, represented by Adithya Varma, to the union government and various local bodies in Delhi, the missive to Vijayan also claims that the Kerala government had no permission to renovate the Travancore House or build a cultural centre there.

The prime elite property in Lutyens' Delhi is worth a few hundred crores of rupees and is also categorised as a heritage building by the New Delhi Municipal Council. The erstwhile royal family in its letter to the Chief Minister has said that the Indian government in 1948 had noted that the palace in Delhi was owned by and in the possession of the Travancore Darbar and they have every right to let it out to any person they choose.

It has also said that all the documents proving the ownership of "Maharaja" in the property in question have been submitted to the ministries of Urban Affairs and Home Affairs for seeking issuance of a title card in respect of the same and a favourable reply was awaited from them.

"In these circumstances, your urgent intervention is requested to put a stop to the activities going on there," the letter has said.

PTI