The Supreme Court on Friday temporarily stopped the order of a Madhya Pradesh High Court, which would have resumed a decades -old legal battle. 15,000 crores, claimed by actors Saif Ali Khan, his mother Sharmila Tagore and sisters Soha and Saba Ali Khan.
The property was once of the last ruling Nawab Nawab Hamidullah Khan of Bhopal, who had three daughters – Abida, Sajida and Rabia. Sajida married Ifatikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, who became Nawab Begum of Bhopal. When Abida moved to Pakistan, Sajida inherited the property of the parents. After Sajida’s death, it went to his son Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, and from him his children, including Saif.
In 2000, a trial court declared the Pataudi family to the right owners, relying on the Certificate of the Government of India of 1962, naming Sajida Sultan, as the only successor for all the properties of the Nawab.
In June this year, the Madhya Pradesh High Court, however, overturned the trial court’s verdict, stating that it was based on the 1997 High Court verdict that the Supreme Court later defeated in 2019.
Although the High Court accepted the principle, it did not distribute the property. Instead, it sent the case back to the trial court for a new lawsuit, giving new evidence and directed that a decision be given within a year.
The decision of the High Court order was taken into the appeal in the apex court, not by Saif’s family, but by two other successors, Omar Ali and Rashid Ali, who belong to the Nawab through their nephew.
He argued that since the Supreme Court said that the Muslim law applies in the case, there was no need for another test. A return after 52 years of litigation (the cases started in 1971-72) will only delay justice, saying that the Civil Procedure Code does not allow a remand, when the issue is not a purely a legal question, which has no new evidence. He further stressed that no party had requested new evidence, so the High Court trial court was unnecessary remand for a new ordinance.
On Friday, a bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Chandurkar agreed to hear the challenge, issued notices to the Center, Madhya Pradesh government, Saif Ali Khan’s family and other heirs, and ordered an interim migration on the High Court’s decision.
The matter will be heard again on 9 September.
Two partitions on the Nawab’s property have been running since the early 1970s. Apart from the Pataudi family, at least 16 other heirs are claiming a share. The succession certificate of 1962 remains a major point of the dispute. Saif’s family depends on this, while others argue that this Muslim heritage cannot eliminate law.
For now, migration means that the 2000 trial court verdict has an impact in favor of Patodis.
