Supreme Court stays M.P. High Court order in Saif Ali Khan household property dispute

The Supreme Court on Friday granted an interim keep on a Madhya Pradesh High Court order remanding a decades-old property dispute involving the royal property of Bhopal’s final Nawab, Hamidullah Khan, to the trial courtroom for contemporary adjudication.

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A Bench comprising Justices P.S. Narasimha and Atul Chandurkar issued discover on a plea of Omar Faruq Ali and Raashid Ali, descendants of the elder brother of Nawab Hamidullah Khan, towards the High Court’s order of June 30.

The petitioners have challenged the High Court’s resolution to put aside a February 14, 2000, trial courtroom judgment that upheld the unique rights of Nawab’s daughter Sajida Sultan, her son Mansoor Ali Khan (former India cricket captain), and their authorized heirs, actor Saif Ali Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Saba Sultan, and veteran actress Sharmila Tagore, over the property.

The High Court stated the trial courtroom’s ruling was based mostly on a 1997 Allahabad High Court verdict, which was later overturned by the Supreme Court in 2019.

However, as an alternative of making use of the 2019 precedent and deciding the case conclusively, the High Court remanded the matter for re-evaluation.

Senior advocate Devadutt Kamat, showing for the petitioners, stated the High Court remand order was opposite to the procedural norms outlined underneath the Civil Procedure Code (CPC).

The case has its origins in civil fits filed in 1999 by members of the Nawab’s prolonged household, together with the late Begum Suraiya Rashid and her youngsters, Mahabano (additionally deceased), Niloufar, Nadir, and Yawar, in addition to Nawabzadi Qamar Taj Rabia Sultan, one other daughter of the Nawab.

The plaintiffs sought partition, possession, and equitable settlement of the Nawab’s non-public property.

The trial courtroom dominated in favour of Sajida Sultan, stating the property was not topic to Muslim Personal Law and had devolved upon her underneath constitutional provisions.

Following the Nawab’s dying in 1960, the Government of India issued a 1962 certificates recognising Sajida Sultan as each the ruler and rightful inheritor to the non-public property underneath Article 366(22) of the Constitution.

The plaintiffs, nevertheless, contended the Nawab’s private property must be distributed amongst all authorized heirs underneath Muslim Personal Law.

They additionally identified the 1962 certificates was not formally contested however claimed it mustn’t bar equitable partition.

The respondents, together with actor Saif Ali Khan and his household, argued succession adopted the rule of primogeniture and Sajida Sultan had rightfully inherited each the royal title (Gaddi) and private properties.

While overturning the trial courtroom ruling, the High Court remanded the case. The petitioners moved the highest courtroom searching for reversal of the remand order.