Setback for Saif Ali Khan as MP High Court sets aside order on inheritance of ₹15,000 cr. royal property

The Madhya Pradesh High Court recently set aside a trial court order that had ruled that actor Saif Ali Khan and his family were the legal heirs of the personal estate of the nawab of Bhopal [Begum Suraiya Rashi & Others v Begum Mehr Taj Nawab Sajida Sulta & Others]..It is estimated that these properties are worth ₹15,000 crore today..Justice Sanjay Dwivedi of MP High Court noted that a judgment of the Allahabad High Court, which formed the basis of the trial court order, has been overruled by the Supreme Court. The trial court had ruled in February 2000 that the nawab’s private properties are part of the gaddi (throne) of Bhopal and would thus pass on the successor to the throne, Saif Ali Khan’s grandmother. In a June 30 order, Justice Dwivedi said that the matter should be reconsidered afresh by the trial court. “I am of the opinion that since the trial Court without considering the other aspects of the matter had dismissed the suits, that too relying upon the judgment which has already been overruled by the Supreme Court, the matters need to be remanded back to the trial Court for deciding it afresh because these are the suits for partition and if ultimately, the trial Court comes to the conclusion that suits have to be allowed then share of the parties can be determined only by the trial Court while passing the preliminary decree and that can be further finalized by the trial Court itself after carrying out the necessary formalities of partition,” the Court said. .Saif Ali Khan, his mother Sharmila Tagore and sisters Soha Ali Khan and Saba Ali Khan inherited the property through his father’s mother, Sajida Sultan. Sajida Sultan’s father, Hamidullah Khan, was the nawab of Bhopal Riyasat, which merged with India in 1949. After Hamidullah Khan died in 1960, Sajida Sultan became the Nawab. The throne would have ordinarily passed to Sajida Sultan’s elder sister, Abida Sultan, but she migrated to Pakistan in 1950. In 1962, the Government of India declared Nawab Hamidullah Khan’s personal property as the personal property of Sajida Sultan. .However, Nawab Hamidullah Khan's other family members, including the descendants of his brother Obaidullah Khan and his third daughter Rabia Sultan, challenged the transfer of properties to Sajida Sultan. They argued that the order by the Indian government, recognising Sajida Sultan as the owner of the Nawab’s estate, is not lawful because, upon his death, the division of his personal property should have been carried out among the heirs according to Muslim Personal Law. .Saif Ali Khan and his side argued that the transfer of Nawab's properties would be governed by the merger agreement between the Bhopal riyasat and India, not the personal law. It was contended that as per the terms of the merger agreement, the property of the rule of Bhopal would go to next ruler, and the next ruler, as per the notification issued by the Government of India, was Nawab Sajida Sultan. The Court was further told that only Sajida Sultan’s successors can claim the right over the ownership of the property of the Nawab and nobody else. .After considering the case, the High Court observed that the trial court order was based on the 1996 judgment of the Allahabad High Court in Miss Talat Fatima Hasan v His Highness Nawab Syed Murtaza Ali Khan Sahib Bahadur and others. The case pertained to the succession of the properties of the Nawab of Rampur. Justice Dwivedi noted that this decision has been overruled by the Supreme Court in 2019 in the case of Talat Fatima Hasan through Her Constituted Attorney Syed Mehdi Husain Vs. Syed Murtaza Ali Khan (Dead) by legal representatives and Others. Therefore, the High Court ordered that the matter be remanded to the trial court and decided afresh. .Advocates Aadil Singh Boparai, Abhishek Dubey, Ayesha Jamal, K Jaggi and Gurlabh Singh Sidhu appeared for the appellants. The respondents were represented through Senior Advocates S Sreevastava and Sanjay Agrawal as well as advocates Arjun Rao, Sooraj Bajpai, Aishwarya Vikram, Shrikant Mishra, Siddharth Sharma, Adil Usmani, Akhilesh Jain, Sheersh Agrawal, Sanjeev Tuli, Varun Tankha and Harshit Bari. .[Read Judgment]