New Delhi: In a respite to actor Saif Ali Khan, his mother Sharmila Tagore and sisters Soha and Saba Ali Khan, however temporary, the Supreme Court, on Friday, order an interim stay on a Madhya Pradesh High Court order to restart a decades-old legal battle over property worth about Rs 15,000 crore claimed by them in Bhopal.
The property once belonged to Nawab Hamidullah Khan, the last ruling Nawab of Bhopal, who had three daughters – Abida, Sajida, and Rabia. Sajida married Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, becoming the Nawab Begum of Bhopal. When Abida migrated to Pakistan, Sajida inherited the parental property. After Sajida’s death, it passed to her son Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, and from him to his children, including Saif.
In 2000, a trial court declared the Pataudi family the rightful owners, relying on a 1962 Government of India certificate naming Sajida Sultan as sole successor to all the Nawab’s properties.
In June this year, the Madhya Pradesh high court however overturned that trial court ruling, saying it was based on a 1997 Allahabad high court decision that the Supreme Court later overruled in 2019. The 2019 ruling by the top court had clarified that Muslim personal law governs the succession of private property, meaning the Nawab’s property should be divided among all legal heirs.
Although the high court accepted this principle, it did not distribute the property. Instead, it sent the case back to the trial court for a fresh trial, allowing new evidence and directing that a verdict be given within a year.
This high court order was challenged before the Supreme Court, not by Saif’s family but by two other heirs, Omar Ali and Rashid Ali, who are related to the Nawab through his nephew.
They argued that since the Supreme Court held that Muslim law applies in this case, there was no need for another trial. A retrial after 52 years of litigation (cases began in 1971-72) would only delay justice, lamented their petition while adding that the Civil Procedure Code does not permit a remand when the issue is purely a legal question requiring no fresh evidence. They further stressed that neither side had requested new evidence, so the high court’s remand to the trial court for a fresh adjudication was unnecessary.
On Friday, the bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Justice A S Chandurkar agreed to hear the challenge, issued notices to the Centre, Madhya Pradesh government, Saif Ali Khan’s family, and other heirs, and ordered an interim stay on the high court’s ruling. The matter will be heard again on September 9.
Two partition suits over the Nawab’s property have been ongoing since the early 1970s. Apart from the Pataudi family, at least 16 other heirs are claiming a share. The 1962 succession certificate remains a key point of contention. Saif’s family relies on it, while the others argue it cannot override Muslim inheritance law.
For now, the stay means the 2000 trial court decision in favour of the Pataudis remains in effect.
