Karnataka took Mysore Palace during the Emergency, lost in court in 1997, and passed a law to take it again in 1998

On 23 January 1950 the Union government recognised Mysore Palace as the private property of the last Maharaja, Jayachamaraja Wadiyar. He died on 23 September 1974. Within four days the state took over the family temples, including those inside the palace. In 1975 the state set up a palace trust, then, during the Emergency, had his son Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar hand over the palace, according to the Star of Mysore. In 1988 Srikantadatta asked the Karnataka High Court to give it back. In November 1997 the court ordered the palace returned, holding that the state needed a law to take private property. Karnataka passed one. The Mysore Palace (Acquisition and Transfer) Act received presidential assent on 28 August 1998 and set compensation of Rs 320 million for the heirs. Srikantadatta challenged it. He died on 10 December 2013 without children. His widow, Pramoda Devi, adopted a successor, and she and his sisters' heirs continue the litigation. In 2026 the state's Mysore Palace Board runs the public museum, about four million people visited in 2023 to 2024, and the family lives in a private wing.