Madhya Pradesh High Court orders fresh hearing in Saif Ali Khan case.

The Madhya Pradesh High Court in Jabalpur has recently set aside an order of a trial court of Bhopal, which had ruled that actor Saif Ali Khan Pataudi, his mother and actress Sharmila Tagore, and Saif’s sisters, Soha and Saba, are the rightful owners of the erstwhile Bhopal Royal family’s personal property, said to be worth Rs 15,000 crore.

The High Court’s ruling, passed by the single bench of Justice Sanjay Dwivedi on June 30, has come as a setback to the actor and his family. The High Court has ordered the trial court to re-hear the case and decide ownership rights afresh. Two appeals were filed against the trial court’s order and decree, which had upheld the Pataudi’s to be the owners of the property.

According to reports, the two appeals, one by Begum Suraiya Rashid & others, and another by Nawab Mehr Taj Sajida Sultan & others, all heirs of the late Nawab Mohammad Hamidullah Khan, stated that the trial court had dismissed their suits against what they called the unfair partition of royal property.

Nawab Hamidullah was the last ruling Nawab of Bhopal. He and his wife, Maimoona Sultan, had three daughters: Abida, Sajida, and Rabia. His daughter Sajida married Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi and became the Nawab Begum of Bhopal. Their son, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, former captain of the Indian cricket team, had married actress Sharmila Tagore.

In their pleas, the appellants have stated that the Bhopal district court’s judgement and decree dated February 14, 2000, dismissed their suits unfairly. Their lawyers pleaded that the partition of the late Nawab’s personal property should have been done between them and defendants Saif Ali, Sharmila, and 16 other heirs, according to Muslim Personal Law.

The appellants opposed the stand of the defendants that the certificate issued by the Government of India on January 10, 1962 was in favour of Sajida Begum as the sole successor of all the private properties. While passing the recent High Court ruling, Justice Dwivedi said, “The matters are remanded back to the trial court for deciding it afresh”.

Team Maverick