In a letter to Vajpayee, Gowda recalled that the State government had made several pleas in this regard and spoke of the urgency in clearing the Bill in view of a contempt petition by Srikantadatta Wodeyar, scion of the royal family, against the takeover which would be heard by Karnataka High Court.

``Once possession is handed over, it would be difficult to prevent transactions, both in valuable movable and immovable properties attached to the palace, and it would defeat the very object of the Legislation,'' he said.

Just as the State government had claimed, Gowda also maintained that the President had already given his assent to the Mysore Palace (Acquisition and Transfer) Bill, 1998. He said that the Prime Minister's intervention for its early clearancewould go a long way in upholding the federal structure of the country.

Even after the President's assent to the Bill passed by the Karnataka Legislature more than two months ago, withholding a formal communication of the President's assent was not in tune with the spirit of the constitution and the federal structure, he said.

Gowda said he had learnt that on the basis of a note from Urban Development Minister Ram Jethmalani, the Home Ministry had referred the matter to the Law Ministry and the Attorney General of India who had also cleared it.

He said that since the palace, the gardens and treasures including the famous golden Howdah were all linked to the famous Dashera festivities, the State Legislature had passed the Bill in public interest early this year.