Constitutional Adviser to Bikaner continues.....

He eventually upheld the claim
of Bikaner State to share the waters of the Bhakra Dam. Subsequently I attended a number of meetings that were held in which
Punjab and Bikaner were invited to place their points of views before the Government of India. Eventually Bikaner’s contention
was upheld.

Another duty that was enjoined on me was to preside over a tribunal appointed to try Rai Bahadur Thakur Pratap Singh, a former Home Minister of Bikaner, on charges of corruption.

Before my taking over as Adviser, correspondence had been going on between the Maharaja and the Ministry of States about the conduct of this gentleman.

The States Ministry’s view was that at the instance of the Maharaja, he had made a good deal of money out of the permits that he was entitled to sanction for export of gram and other food-stuffs from Bikaner to Madras and other States. The prevailing price of gram in Bikaner then was about Rs. 10 per maund while the price in Madras was nearer Rs. 45 per maund.

The permits were usually for quantities ranging between 5,000 and 10,000 tons. The Home Minister and the Maharaja were said to have made lakhs of rupees from the grant of these permits.

The Government of India was pressing for a probe into the matter. When I took up service in the State, the States Ministry and the Maharaja both agreed that if I conducted an enquiry into this matter they would accept my report. I did not want to do this alone and suggested that a tribunal consisting of myself and the Chief Justice of the State should be constituted. To this, the Maharaja and the Ministry of States agreed and a tribunal was constituted of myself and the Chief Justice of the State to hold a public enquiry into the conduct of the Home Minister in the matter of granting permits for export of gram and other foodstuff.

To be continued...