MR. HERBERT ROBERTS (Denbighshire, W.)To ask the Secretary of State for India whether he will explain why an Order was recently passed by the Government of India interfering with the established rule of succession in the Native State of Hill Tipperah, and declining to recognise Samarendra Chandra as Jubaraj upon the death of the previous ruler of the State, in view of the fact that by the law of succession in this State the Bara Thakur is entitled to succeed as Jubaraj under such circumstances, and that Samarendra Chandra had been for twenty-five years regarded as the Bara Thakur of this State by the Government.
§ (Answered by Secretary Lord George Hamilton.) The present Raja of Hill Tipperah was installed in March, 1897. In February, 1899, he appointed his eldest son Birendra Kishore Thakur to be Jubraj. The Bara Thakur (Samarendra Chandra) appealed to the Government of Bengal and subsequently to the Government of India against the Raja's selection of his son to be Jubraj, on the ground that he himself was entitled to this appointment, which carries with it the right of succession to the chiefship. The matter has been very carefully considered by the Government of Bengal and by the Government of India The Government of Bengal came to the conclusion that the alleged family custom making it obligatory on the Raja to pro- 1626 mote the Bara Thakur (if there be one) to the appointment of Jubraj had not been established, and recommended that the Raja's son should be regarded as Jubraj and successor designate to the chiefship. The Government of India concurred in the view of the Government of Bengal, and declined to interfere with the Raja's action in appointing his son to be Jubraj, a measure which in their opinion was in the public interests of the Hill Tipperah State.