JAWAHAR LAL GUPTA, J.

1. The plaintiff-appellantfiled a suit for the recovery of Rs. 25 lacs along with interest @ 12% from the date of institution. It was decreed by the trial Court vide its judgment dated March 30, 1989. The appeal filed by the defendants viz., the State of Punjab etc. having been allowed by the learned single Judge, the plaintiff has filed this Letters Patent Appeal. The facts may be briefly noticed.

2. His late Highness Maharaja Jagatjit Singh was the Sovereign Ruler of the Erstwhile State of Kapurthala. He was the grandfather of the appellant. It is alleged that Maharaja Jagatjit passed an order on May 28,1948 that :

"The amount of Rs. 50,00,000/- (Rupees fifty lacs) that is lying in the Kapurthala treasury as State Reserve Fund shall stand divided into two parts one part of Rs. 25,00,000/-.......... shall be transferred to his house hold account and the other part of the said amount shall be used for the beneficial purposes of the Kapurthala State ......" On August 20, 1948 the erstwhile Princely States including the State of Karnataka were brought under the Administration of His Highness the Raj Pramukh of Pepsu and a new State called the Patiala and