Krishna Dev's petition was heard 22 yrs ago

Kolkata, Apr 1: Telephones rang ceaselessly at Calcutta High Court after a section of the media reported that a 173-year-old case seeking permission to sell off the ancestral property of Raja Naba Krishna Dev for the upkeep of family temples would be reopened for settlement.

''We are tired of receiving the telephone calls. We don't know from where the reporters get such baseless information,'' an official of the record department said.

Mr Shaymal Ganguly, counsel of the Dev family, said, '' The case is technically dead. It was heard and disposed of in 1984.'' Mr Ganguly declined to say anything more stating that the media reports on the case had already sparked confusion. ''I have nothing to say.'' Receiver of the property, Gaur Roy Chowdhury, appointed by Calcutta High Court years ago, said the case was no longer valid from the legal angle.

''A sum of Rs 10,000 as security money was deposited before the court and a heap of dust has settled on the files,'' he said.

Way back in early 1800's, Raja Naba Krishna Dev, founder of the Sovabazar Rajbari, had moved a case seeking permission to sell ancestral property for maintaining temples and worship of the deities of the family.

The case was heard by the Supreme Court as the Calcutta High court did not exist at that time.

After his death, his eight sons fought the case which was transferred to Calcutta High Court when it was set up in 1862.

The Dev family has now more than 200 members, most of whom do not remember the lawsuit filed by the founder of the family.

UNI