109 years on, UK to examine Rs 35,000 'war loan' claim by MP family

More than a century after a businessman from Madhya Pradesh lent Rs 35,000 to the British government to fund its World War I expenses, his grandsons have claimed that UK authorities have agreed to examine their request for repayment.

Vinay and Vivek Ruthia, descendants of an erstwhile Nagar Seth (prominent businessman and landholder), told reporters in Sehore on Monday that their legal counsel sent a notice to the UK Debt Management Office (DMO) in February, based on records and correspondence left behind by their grandfather, Seth Jumma Lal Ruthia, who died in 1937.

The brothers said they received a response and that the UK government has agreed to examine their request.

According to the family, a large number of Indian soldiers joined the British Army during World War I, with the government raising crores of rupees from India to fund food, water and other war expenses. The Ruthia family had lent Rs 35,000 to the British government at the time, and documentation of the 109-year-old loan was found among the family's records, the brothers said.

The document, frayed and yellowed with age, reads, "Seth Jumma Lal Ruthia subscribed Rs 35,000 to the Indian War Loan, thereby showing his loyalty to the Government and Empire." It is dated June 4, 1917, and carries the signature of a political agent in Bhopal.

Vinay Ruthia, 65, said that when the document surfaced, a legal notice was sent by email and hard copy to the UK government's Debt Management Office through his lawyer, Shriyansh Raniwal. His lawyer recently received a response from the DMO, offering the family an opportunity to pursue the matter further through additional documentation, he said.

The DMO, an executive agency of the UK Treasury, has not confirmed or denied the claims. "If you believe that your client may be entitled to an unclaimed payment, you should contact the gilt registrar, Computershare Investor Services PLC, providing what information you have relating to the holding in question. We have passed on the information and documentation you have provided, but it would be helpful if you can provide copies of any other documentary evidence you have, including certificates and correspondence," the DMO said in its letter to the lawyer.

According to the Ruthia brothers, the value of the Rs 35,000 loan, with interest accrued over more than a century, would amount to several crores today.

Vivek Ruthia, 63, said his grandfather, Seth Jumma Lal, died in 1937, 20 years after lending the sum to the British government. He said the document and correspondence with the British government were found among old papers, along with his grandfather's will.

He said the British government had borrowed the money to streamline its management of the Bhopal state, and claimed that under international law, a sovereign country is, in principle, legally bound to repay its old debts.