Indian justice is often delivered at a glacial pace but a decision over just who owns thousands of acres of land, historic buildings and temples spread across the north of the city, now known as Kolkata, has broken all records.

In the late eighteenth century, British Governor-General Robert Clive ruled that the property should remain in the custody of Raja Naba Krishna Deb, a major Bengali royal of the Sovabazar court.

The only condition for the raja's continued rule was that he pay a tax of one rupee a day -- a duty still being collected by the Indian state.

But after Deb and his son died, the property was divided among family members who started to sell the buildings off to fund luxurious lifestyles.