Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan and his kin suffered a huge setback early this week after the Madhya Pradesh high court cancelled a 25-year-old ruling validating their ownership right on the inherited property valued at a staggering ₹15,000 crore and directed a re-trial.
High Court Overturns Trial Court’s Decree
The decree and order of a trial court released two decades ago confirmed Saif Ali Khan and his relatives mother Sharmila Tagore and sisters Soha Ali Khan and Saba Ali Khan – as the owners of the properties left behind by the former rulers of the princely state of Bhopal. But justice Sanjay Dwivedi of the high court has now stayed that order and has directed the trial court to hold a new trial and try to dispose of the case in a year, PTI said.
The final nawab ruler of Bhopal – Nawab Hamidullah – had three daughters, Abida, Sajida and Rabia. Sajida wed Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi and became the Nawab Begum of Bhopal. When her older sister Abida had immigrated to Pakistan, Sajida took over their parents’ estate, which then passed on to her son Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi.
Inheritance Passed to Saif Ali Khan and Siblings
Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, alias Tiger Pataudi, wed Bollywood actress Sharmila Tagore and they had three children – Saif Ali Khan, Soha Ali Khan and Saba Ali Khan – who inherited the assets valued at about ₹15,000 crore.
Other successors of Nawab Hamidullah objected to the inheritance by Pataudi siblings. Begum Suraiya Rashid and Nawab Mehr Taj Sajida Sultan, among others, had moved court with suits against ‘unfair’ division of property of Nawab Hamidullah. But the Bhopal district court ‘unfairly’ rejected their suit in a February 14, 2000 judgment, as per two separate appeals moved by them.
Appellants Argue for Fresh Division Under Muslim Personal Law
As per their attorneys, partition of Nawab Hamidullah’s movable property ought to have been carried out between them and defendants Saif Ali, Sharmila and 16 other heirs under the Muslim Personal Law, PTI quoted.
The single bench of Justice Sanjay Dwivedi has set the trial court’s decades’ old decree aside and asked it to decide on the matter again. It also directed the court to allow parties to present fresh evidence if required.
Justice Dwivedi said, “The matters are remanded back to the trial court for deciding it afresh.”
“And if so required, the trial court can allow the parties to lead further evidence in view of the subsequent development and changed legal position,” said his order.
The Government of India had issued a certificate on January 10, 1962, in favour of Saif Ali Khan’s grandmother Sajida, naming her the sole successor of all the private properties of the Nawab. The certificate was cited by the Pataudi’s to retain their claim over the wealth. However, the appellants have opposed the citation in their appeal.
Supreme Court Overruling Used as Basis to Cancel Earlier Verdict
A single bench of Justice Sanjay Dwivedi has overruled the trial court’s decades’ old order and requested it to rule on the issue once again. It also ordered the court to permit parties to submit new evidence if necessary.
In overruling the trial court’s 2000 order, Justice Dwivedi stated that it had rejected the appellants’ suits on the basis of judgement that has itself been overruled by the Supreme Court.
“I am of the opinion that the trial court, without considering other aspects of the matter, had dismissed the suits, that too relying upon the judgment which has already been overruled by the Supreme Court. Thus, in my opinion, the impugned judgment and decree deserve to be and are hereby set aside,” the judge said.
“It is made clear that since the suits were initially filed in 1999, therefore, the trial court shall make all possible efforts to conclude and decide it expeditiously, preferably within a period of one year,” he added, reported PTI.
Saif Ali Khan and the Bhopal Succession Deal
The order further stated that the princely state of Bhopal joined the Union of India upon independence on April 30, 1949 in an agreement which stated, “The agreement contained a clause disclosing that upon merger all the special rights which the Nawab (Ruler) enjoyed, shall continue and under the agreement, it was agreed upon that all the property which is their personal property, shall be of their absolute ownership and succession of the Gaddi (throne) shall be under the Bhopal Succession to the Throne Act, 1947.”
