Saif Ali Khan's family property dispute moves to Supreme Court after six decades

Saif Ali Khan gets an update on his family property dispute

Saif Ali Khan’s private property of the last Nawab of Bhopal dispute has officially moved to the Supreme Court after a six-decade battle.

A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Atul S Chandurkar stayed a recent Madhya Pradesh High Court order on Friday. The bench has issued notices to the descendants of the Nawab’s two daughters. The names include actor Sharmila Tagore, her children Saif Ali Khan and Soha Ali Khan, along with relatives from the Nawab’s second daughter’s side.

For the unversed, the Nawab’s eldest daughter, Mehr Taj Sajida Sultan Begum, was declared heir to the royal seat in 1960 under the rule of primogeniture and the Bhopal Accession Act.

However, the High Court ruled in May this year that this succession rule would not apply to the Nawab’s private property. Instead, the court stated that the estate must be divided according to Muslim personal law, which provides for distribution among children and brothers.

The High Court cited a 2019 Supreme Court ruling and remitted the issue back to the trial court to decide on the division. This reversed a 2000 trial court ruling which had declared Saif Ali Khan and his sisters, being descendants of Sajida Sultan, as sole legal heirs. The High Court judgment was delivered following a challenge by other claimants, including the Nawab's brother's family.

Petitioner Omar Faruq Ali, on behalf of the Nawab's brother's side, pleaded in the Supreme Court that the High Court must have declared the share of each heir rather than remanding the case.

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Omar’s legal representatives also argued that neither party had asked for new evidence or a retrial, but the High Court directed a new hearing and prohibited the creation of third-party rights over property in the interim.

The Supreme Court has provided the respondents, who include Sharmila Tagore, Saif Ali Khan, Soha Ali Khan, and other family members, with four weeks' time to submit their replies. The case will be heard again in the second week of September.