Sir Sobha Singh, OBE (1890–1978) was a civil contractor and a prominent builder of Lutyens' Delhi and real estate owner of Delhi.^[1] He is the father of famous Indian writer Khushwant Singh. As a witness in the Assembly Bomb Case, Sobha Singh identified martyrs Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt after they threw bombs at the Delhi assembly in 1929

Sobha Singh was a witness in the assembly bomb explosion incident on April 8, 1929. He identified ^[4] Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt after they threw bombs at the Delhi assembly in 1929. Subsequently Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were sentenced to death for their role in the assassination of Saunders

When Hardinge, the Viceroy of India, announced the plan to move the British Indian capital city to Delhi was along with the Coronation Durbar for King George V and the Queen Mary, would take place in Delhi in December 1911, Sujan Singh and 22-year old Sobha Singh, who was then a contractor working on the Kalka-Shimla railroad, shifted base to Delhi as building contractors. Building contracts then being given out. Sujan Singh-Sobha Singh were accepted as senior-grade contractors. Plans for the new city were drawn immediately after the Coronation Durbar.

The Foundation stones had been laid by the King and Queen. After this the architects, Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker wanted to change the site from where the foundation stones had been laid to Raisina hill and the village of Malcha. Sobha Singh had the foundation stones removed during the night and then take them 11 km across the city and replant them on the new site. The construction of the plans were taken up after World War I (1916–18).

For the South Block and War Memorial Arch ( now India Gate), Sobha Singh was the sole builder. He also worked on some parts of the Viceregal House (now Rashtrapati Bhavan) and Vijay Chowk.

The South Block in New Delhi for which Sobha SIngh was the sole contractor.

Sobha Singh bought as much land in Delhi as he could. He bought several extensive sites at as little as Rs 2 per square yard, freehold. There were few other takers, and he came to be described as adhi dilli da malik (the owner of half of Delhi).^[6] He constructed many residential and commercial buildings, including the Connaught Place market complex,^[7] as well as the Chelmsford, A.I.F.A.C.'s Hall, Broadcasting House (All India Radio), The National Museum, Dyal Singh College, T.B.Hospital, Modern School, Deaf and Dumb School, St. Columba's School, Red Cross Buildings and Baroda House. Outside Delhi, he built the High Court and Government Medical College at Nagpur and the Pasteur Institute at Kasauli.

Sobha Singh was a person of modest education but his success as a builder made him one of the wealthiest persons of Delhi; also, a prominent member of the social elite. He also became the first Indian president of the New Delhi Municipal Council and held the post four times, in 1938, 1942, and 1945-46.^[8] Appointed an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1938,^[9] he was subsequently^[when?] knighted by the government^{[citation needed]} and appointed a member of the Council of States.^{[citation needed]} He also built Sujan Singh Park, near Khan Market New Delhi, New Delhi's first apartment complex, which only had bungalows till then, in 1945, designed by Walter Sykes George and named after his father.^[10] Sobha Singh died in Delhi on 18 April 1978.

Legacy[edit]

Sobha Singh left a large part of his private estate to a charitable trust, The Sobha Singh Trust, which maintains homes and hospices for the terminally ill and aged all over the country, most recently it built, a dharamsala, within the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital complex, inNew Delhi in 2005^[11]

He also presided over some of the institutions funded by it like the Deaf and Dumb School and the Modern School. Among his last grants was one for Bhagat Puran Singh's Pingalwara home for the destitute 

The younger brother of Sobha Singh, Sardar Ujjal Singh (1895–1983), later became a parliamentarian, and Governor of Tamil Nadu(1966–71).^[3][13]

Rukshana Sultana is an Indian "social butterfly". She is well known as one of Sanjay Gandhi's close associates during the Emergencyin India.

obha Singh was married to Lady Sardarni Vira Bai (Lady Varyam Kaur). They had four sons Bhagwant Singh, Khushwant Singh(journalist, and author), Major Gurbakash Singh and Daljit Singh and a daughter, Mohinder Kaur, who was the mother-in-law ofRukhsana Sultana and grandmother of Indian film actress, Amrita Singh. His grandson Tejbir Singh, is the editor of Seminar magazine, and married to journalist and publisher Malvika Singh, daughter of journalist Romesh Thapar.

Khushwant Singh - the noted writer and son of a Delhi builder who betrayed Bhagat Singh - is defending his father.

He claimed his father Sobha Singh's act was not that of betrayal but he was in fact only speaking the truth.

But a historian and Bhagat Singh's relative Waraich contested Khushwant Singh's assertion saying his father Sobha Singh never spoke the "truth" about the British atrocities. The controversy started after the government moved a proposal to name a major roundabout in New Delhi after his father.

In his recent article, Khushwant Singh wrote that his father's 'crime' was to identify Bhagat Singh and B. K. Dutt after they threw bombs at the Delhi assembly in 1929. His father only spoke the truth, Khushwant said. A noted historian and lawyer - who has various books on freedom struggle and Bhagat Singh to his credit - said the journalist-writer had been unnecessarily attempting to convince people against the facts etched in history.

Author Khushwant Singh

Khushwant Singh wrote in his father's defence: "They took their seats in the gallery. So did my father. The debate going on was very boring; so he (Sobha Singh) started reading a newspaper he had brought with him. His attention was distracted by firing of pistols and explosion of bombs." Waraich countered Khushwant Singh, saying the celebrated writer did not consult the judgment and other documents related to the case. He did not have the facts right, he said.

Waraich referred to an appendix on the judgment in the assembly bomb explosion delivered on June 12, 1929 explaining the position of people in the assembly chamber. The judge said in the order that the President rose, as witnesses perceived, to deliver his ruling about the Public Safety Bill.

Sir Sobha Singh

The appendix said: "It appears from evidence that this ruling was expected to be of considerable interest, with the natural result that the attention of most persons at that moment was centred on the President." The judgment also stated: "At such a moment it would only be by chance that people in the house would be gazing about, but Sobha Singh had only just arrived and had taken a seat in the gallery." Waraich said Khushwant Singh also attempted to mislead that his father had already occupied the seat and was a witness to the debate which was "boring". But the document revealed that he had "just" arrived which meant he did not hear the debate which was actually "of considerable interest". Sobha Singh had arranged to have lunch with his friends whom he was to meet in the House.

Sobha Singh was anxious to discover his friends' whereabouts.

Khushwant Singh mentioned in his write-up: "Others in the visitors' gallery fled leaving (behind) my father and the two revolutionaries." But, the judgment said: "Sardar Sobha Singh left his seat after the second explosion and, whilst moving to the back of the gallery, heard two shots. Arriving at the back of the gallery he saw two policemen whom he dispatched to the place occupied by the accused, following more slowly himself."

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/khushwant-singh-sir-sobha-singh-bhagat-singh/1/146778.html

This is an old post; to the best of my knowledge, this plan has since been dropped since I have not read anything about it since this article linked above from The Indian Express

Amazing act of brilliance and insensitivity on the part of the "honourable" Government of India.. apparently, they are intending to rename Connaught Place after Sardar Sobha Singh - the man who gave evidence against shaheed-e-azam Sardar Bhagat Singh.....

This is carrying things too far - naming of an important landmark after a person is a great honour, and not to be taken lighly. As it is we are in the habit of naming everything after Nehru-Gandhi, instead of deserving people. Cant we think of any other, better candidates - Homi Babha, Mother Teresa, Major Dhyan Chand, MF Hussain, JRD Tata, Bhagat Singh, Sardar Patel etc etc- the list can be literally endless!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobha_Singh_(builder)

Read wiki, and it gets more and more interesting... he was knighted by the British... and this is the guy you want to commemorate! Sick, that's what it is. Why should anyone show patriotism when they dont even get the honour afterwards? Not only that, the people due to whom they were caught are commemorated - both by the enemy as well as by friends! What kind of message are we giving out to the public at large? I dont ordinarily air political views on this blog, but this is too much - the Congress is doing the nation -and the memory of the one freedom fighter who has become synonymous with bravery and the freedom struggle - a huge disservice. Are these gentlemen who are currently in charge doing any good????

These are the words of a person who was once an ardent Congress supporter. The list of scams, misgovernment, idiotic decisions, inaction on the policy front are already on the verge of driving me away.... this act of crass stupidity and abject insensitivity have forced me to give vent to my feelings. You are honoring a person knighted by the british in 1938 - the same person who gave evidence against the freedom fighter the british called enemy no 1. The connection is obvious. Let us put this in the proper perspective- Rabindranath Tagore returned all british honors when he understood their intentions, Sobha Singh - at least from records available to me - did not return them, indeed accepted them with alacrity. Who is a genuine patriot? Are you the Government of India or some other place? Words fail me... they are doing all they can to self-destruct, it seems. 

Posted 8th February 2012 by Vishal Kale

The Delhi government has moved a proposal to rename the Capital’s iconic Windsor Place area in Lutyens’ Delhi after popular writer Khuswant Singh’s father Sir Sobha Singh,following a request from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last month.

Sobha Singh was a key building contractor in the early to mid 20th Century,and along with his father Sujan Singh he is credited with constructing landmarks like the India Gate and Connaught Place.

Prime Minister Singh wrote to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on June 28,citing a request by a private organisation to rename the area to mark the 100th anniversary of Delhi being declared the national capital.

“A proposal in this regard (renaming) has come in from Sir Sobha Singh’s well wishers. We will send it to the Home Ministry tomorrow,” said Dikshit.

The government has since consulted the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC),the agency which manages Lutyens’ Delhi and is involved in renaming roads and places there,and is now ready to write to Home officials,said a senior government official.

The NDMC informed the government that most places and roads in the area have already been named after important people; the only options open were Windsor Place,which falls on the roundabout near Le Meridien Hotel,and South Avenue.

“The places are close to where Sir Sobha Singh’s family lives now,Sujan Singh Park,which is named after his father. We eventually narrowed down on Windsor Place,” the official added.

The organisation,whose proposal the Prime Minister cited in his letter to Dikshit,originally suggested renaming an area in New Delhi after Sobha Singh to mark his contribution towards building the national capital.

Sobha Singh and his father Sujan Singh moved to the city as building contractors when the British administration declared Delhi as the national capital,to coincide with the Coronation Durbar that was to be held in December 1911.

The renaming of Windsor Place,however,may not be an easy option,a senior NDMC official said,as the civic agency has in the past rejected proposals to change its name.

“Certain rules enforced by the Centre don’t allow renaming the area. We have told the government that if this were to be done now,the rules would have to be superseded,” the official said.

A senior official,who is in the know,said the Delhi government has compiled all information on the issue and will now write to the Home Ministry,informing it about the constraints in implementing the proposal and how it could be approved.Share on facebook

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Khushwant Singh was born on 2 February 1915 was a novelist and journalist.

- An Indo-Anglian novelist, Singh was best-known for his trenchant secularism, his humour, and an abiding love of poetry. His comparisons of social and behavioral characteristics of Westerners and Indians are laced with acid wit. He served as editor of several literary and news magazines, as well as two broadsheet newspapers, through the 1970s and 1980s. He was a recipient of the Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian award in India.

- Singh was born in Hadali District Khushab, Punjab (which now lies in Pakistan), in a Sikh family. His father, Sir Sobha Singh (builder), was a prominent builder in Lutyens' Delhi. His uncle Sardar Ujjal Singh (1895-1983) was Ex. Governor of Punjab and Tamil Nadu.

An Indo-Anglian novelist, Singh was best-known for his trenchant secularism, his humour, and an abiding love of poetry.

- He was educated at Modern School, New Delhi, Government College, Lahore, St. Stephen's College in Delhi and King's College, London, before reading for the Bar at the Inner Temple.

- Singh edited 'Yojana', an Indian government journal, The Illustrated Weekly of India, a newsweekly, and two major Indian newspapers, The National Herald and the Hindustan Times. During his tenure, The Illustrated Weekly became India's pre-eminent newsweekly, with its circulation raising from 65,000 to 4,00,000. After working for nine years in the weekly, on 25 July 1978, a week before he was to retire, the management asked Singh to leave "with immediate effect". The new editor was installed the same day. After Singh's departure, the weekly suffered a huge drop in readership.

- From 1980 through 1986, Singh was a member of Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of the Indian Parliament. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1974 for service to his country. In 1984, he returned the award in protest against the siege of the Golden Temple by the Indian Army. In 2007, the Indian government awarded Khushwant Singh the Padma Vibhushan.

- Singh was said to wake up at 4 am each day and write his columns by hand. His works range from political commentary and contemporary satire to outstanding translations of Sikh religious texts and Urdu poetry.

- As a public figure, Singh was accused of favouring the ruling Congress party, especially during the reign of Indira Gandhi. He was derisively termed as an Establishment Liberal. Singh's faith in the Indian political system, however, was shaken by events such as anti-Sikh riots that followed Indira Gandhi's assassination, in which major Congress politicians are alleged to be involved. But he remained resolutely positive on the promise of Indian democracy and worked via Citizen's Justice Committee floated by HS Phoolka who is a senior advocate of Delhi High Court.

- He was married to Kawal Malik and is survived by a son, named Rahul Singh, and a daughter, named Mala. Actress Amrita Singh is the daughter of his brother Daljit Singh and Rukhsana Sultana. He stayed in "Sujan Singh Park", near Khan Market New Delhi, Delhi's first apartment complex, built by his father in 1945, and named after his grandfather.

Honours and awards

· Rockfeller Grant,1966

· Padma Bhushan, Government of India (1974)(He returned the decoration in 1984 in protest against the Union government's siege of the Golden Temple, Amritsar)

· Honest Man of the Year, Sulabh International (2000)

· Punjab Rattan Award, The Government of Punjab (2006)

· Padma Vibhushan, Government of India (2007)

· Sahitya academy fellowship award by Sahitya academy of India (2010)

· 'All-India Minorities Forum Annual Fellowship Award' by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav (2012)

Books