The Gwalior Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court has issued contempt notice against Union Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and seven others in a property row.
The dispute over the Hiranvan Kothi palace on Gwalior Estate dates back to 1983, when Jyotiraditya’s father, Madhavrao Scindia, occupied the premises — which was leased by his mother Vijayraje Scindia to her secretary Sambhajirao Angre. In Vijayraje’s autobiography Rajpath se Lokpath tak , she mentioned Hiranvan Kothi as a possible residence for grandson Jyotiraditya.
In 2004, several Congress members were booked on charges of trespassing on the premises, which is in court custody. The court had ordered status quo on the property. After Jyotiraditya had a wall erected on the perimeter, Mr. Angre’s daughter approached the court, which served notice on the minister on Monday.
He has four weeks to reply to the court.
Of late, Jyotiraditya has been in the news for the wrong reasons. On Sunday, at a ceremony to inaugurate a road project in Ashok Nagar district, he lost his temper and, on the microphone, told the BJP’s Mungawali’s MLA Rao Deshraj Singh Yadav that he had “forgotten his place and he shouldn’t dare to tease a lion... If you can bring 15 vehicles, I can bring thousands more.”
BJP workers had raised slogans in praise of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan during the event.