NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: Supreme Court Thursday directed Karnataka govt to release transferable development rights (TDR) certificates worth Rs 3,400 crore in favour of the legal heirs of Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar and others in lieu of acquiring 15-acre land at Bangalore Palace Grounds for widening Ballari and Jayamahal roads over 20 years ago.Disposing of contempt petitions and rejecting Karnataka govt’s contention, a bench comprising Justices MM Sundresh and Aravind Kumar ordered the state to hand over TDRs to the respective complainants or their representatives.The state govt argued it succeeded in the writ appeal filed before Karnataka HC regarding the validity of Bangalore Palace (Acquisition and Transfer) Act, 1996, and urged the SC to consider their separate application for an early hearing of the civil appeal filed in 1997 on the same issue.It further claimed that for land acquired in 1994, its valuation was done in 2024. By the same yardstick, it would have to shell out more than 1 lakh crore if the entire 462 acres of Palace ground lands were to be acquired.Govt defied SC fiat: FamilyThe state govt brought in Bangalore Palace (Utilization and Regulation of Land) Ordinance 2025 on Jan 29, seeking to reserve the right not to acquire portions of Palace Grounds land and decided not to utilise the subject land.On the other hand, counsel representing the erstwhile royal family/complainants insisted that the state govt is already in contempt and added the act of the state govt in issuing the ordinance was in defiance of the Supreme Court’s order, as the same was issued after six weeks’ time to implement the order pertaining to the issuance of TDR.On Dec 10, 2024, Supreme Court passed the order and fixed Rs 2,83,500 per square metre on Ballari Road and Rs 2,04,000 per square metre on Jayamahal Road as TDR rate. The total value of the TDR to be given to the erstwhile royal family was estimated to be Rs 3,011.7 crore in lieu of 15 acres and 17.5 guntas which was notified for acquisition for road-widening purpose.However, BDA calculated around Rs 11 crore as the compensation amount. The govt initially calculated it to be around Rs 1,400 crore.