Very interesting line of thinking Ignatius.
If anyone has a case, it would be the maharajah’s descendants and not the
government of India, since it happened in 1941 which is before India’s
independence.
When I said “looted” from the rajahs, I did not mean brazenly snatched from
them. It must have been given voluntarily though under much indirect duress.
This means that although the British would have legal documents of ownership
which would include signatures from the donee rajahs, a good lawyer would
easily be able to prove “duress”.
For example it would not be improbable to prove that the British Political
Agent had told the rajah that if he did not give “x” amount of funds for the
war effort, he would arrange to depose the ruler and give the throne to someone
else. This happened all too often, though the colonial British government
proved to be much more trustworthy than the succeeding one as any of the rajahs
will aver.
It is also contingent on documents being available with the rulers’ descendants
and on the speed with which an injunction is requested in the UK courts. Don’t
forget that once the silver is actually salvaged, the finders will walk away
with 80%, sell off the silver and dissolve the company. Recovery will then be
near impossible. Also there is the question of the affected rajahs uniting to
do this and having the funds to pay for their lawyers. The India rajahs have
been impoverished from the time that Indira Gandhi broke the India government’s
agreement to pay them a yearly royalty and to protect their assets from seizure.
Despite all this, my best wishes to the Indian maharajahs. They were a hundred
times more concerned with the well-being of their subjects than Indian
politicians will ever be.
Roland.
Toronto.
From: Ignatius Fernandes [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2011 1:23 PM
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: The SS Gairsoppa
Thank you Roland Francis for whetting my appetite about
the SS.Gairsoppa and it's treasure of silver found at the
bottom of the sea..
Apparently the finders get 80% of the treasure trove and the rest
to the owners. Since the silver was looted from the maharajahs
by the British, should not either the Government of India or the
individual maharajahs make a claim.
I very much doubt that Britain would part with anything they
would hold on to it for dear life. Good example are the Elgin
Marbles and the Koh-i-Noor diamond.
Regards
Ignatius Fernandes.
