In a significant legal development, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has set aside a two-decade-old verdict that had declared actor Saif Ali Khan and his family as rightful heirs to royal properties once owned by Bhopal’s erstwhile rulers. The properties, estimated to be worth nearly ₹15,000 crore, are now the subject of a fresh trial, following the High Court’s order for retrial.
The single-judge bench of Justice Sanjay Dwivedi passed the order on June 30, remanding the case back to the trial court and directing that it be concluded within one year.
The case pertains to the inheritance of properties belonging to Nawab Hamidullah Khan, the last ruling Nawab of Bhopal, and his wife Maimoona Sultan. They had three daughters — Abida, Sajida, and Rabia. Sajida married Nawab Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, and their son, the late cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, married Bollywood actress Sharmila Tagore. The properties in question eventually passed down to their children — actor Saif Ali Khan, and his sisters Soha Ali Khan and Saba Ali Khan.
In 2000, a Bhopal district court had dismissed suits filed by other heirs of Nawab Hamidullah — including Begum Suraiya Rashid and Nawab Mehr Taj Sajida Sultan — who challenged the inheritance as an unfair partition of the Nawab’s personal property. They argued that the division should have been done under Muslim Personal Law, involving all legal heirs, and not solely in favour of Sajida Begum or her descendants.
The plaintiffs also contested the validity of a 1962 succession certificate issued by the Government of India to Sajida Begum, claiming that it could not override personal inheritance laws.
Justice Dwivedi found fault with the trial court’s reliance on judgments that have since been overruled by the Supreme Court. “The trial court, without considering other aspects of the matter, had dismissed the suits, that too relying upon the judgment which has already been overruled,” the High Court observed. “The impugned judgment and decree deserve to be and are hereby set aside.”
The court noted that the original suits were filed in 1999 and emphasized the need for expeditious resolution. “The trial court shall make all possible efforts to conclude and decide it expeditiously, preferably within a period of one year,” the order stated.
The ruling has reopened the complex legal battle over one of India’s most valuable inheritance disputes, involving questions of personal law, royal succession, and constitutional agreements signed during the merger of princely states into the Indian Union.
