Why Saif Ali Khan’s royal assets may slip to state custody

In a decisive turn in the decades-old Bhopal royal inheritance battle, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has scrapped a 25-year-old trial court ruling that had recognised Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan and his family as rightful inheritors of the royal properties of the erstwhile Nawab of Bhopal. According to Hindustan Times, Justice Sanjay Dwivedi has now ordered the trial court to initiate fresh proceedings and resolve the matter within a year.

“After this order, Saif Ali Khan and his family — his two sisters and mother — cannot claim ownership over the Bhopal property. The court will now decide, after hearing all parties, what share, if any, they are entitled to,” said senior advocate Jagdish Chavan, who had previously represented Saif’s father, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi.

At the heart of the dispute is the estate of Hamidullah Khan, the last ruling Nawab of Bhopal and Saif’s great-grandfather. The vast inheritance includes thousands of acres around Bhopal and prominent properties like the Flag Staff House, Noorus Sabah Palace Hotel, Darus Salam, and Ahmedabad Palace.

Inheritance battle

The legal challenge comes after decades of tension within the royal family. The controversy intensified in December, 2014 when the Enemy Property Department launched an inquiry into how the Pataudi family acquired the royal estate. A complaint alleged that the property should have been designated as “enemy property”, a classification under the Enemy Property Act, 1968, which empowers the government to seize assets belonging to individuals who migrated to Pakistan after Partition. Saif had contested this inquiry.

The recent High Court intervention stems from a challenge filed in 2000 by other descendants of the Nawab, questioning the legitimacy of Sajida Sultan — Saif's grandmother — as the sole successor. The district court had originally upheld her claim in 2000, based on the Bhopal Succession to the Throne Act, 1947, and a government notification recognising her succession.

According to Chavan, under the succession law, the estate would pass to the eldest son, and in the absence of one, to the eldest daughter, Abida Sultan. “If one goes by the succession act, Abida was the successor. But she was a resident of Pakistan and hence, the property would have simply been declared as enemy property,” he said.

Abida had migrated to Pakistan in 1950, a decade before the Nawab’s death in 1960. The crown then passed to Sajida, the second daughter, who was married to Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi. “At the time, Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister and shared a friendship with Iftikhar Ali Khan, Saif’s grandfather. So, a year after the death of Nawab Hamidullah Khan, his second daughter, Sajida Sultan, after Abida Sultan—was made the successor,” Chavan said.

Long history

Although the initial transition went uncontested for some years, partly because all heirs received a privy purse, or royal allowance, conflict surfaced after Indira Gandhi abolished privy purses and royal titles in the 1970s. Maimoona Sultan, the Nawab’s senior wife, and their third daughter, Rabiya Sultan, subsequently filed a partition suit under Muslim Personal Law in 1971, seeking division of assets and financial accounting.

They weren’t alone. Another suit came from descendants of Obaidullah Khan, Nawab Hamidullah’s elder brother. These cases culminated in the 2000 district court judgment, which upheld Sajida Sultan’s exclusive claim, relying heavily on the now-overruled Talat Fatima Hasan judgement, also known as the State of Rampur case.

The Rampur dispute had similarly revolved around a princely inheritance and ultimately concluded that properties should be divided under Shariat law among all legal heirs. With that precedent no longer standing, Chavan says the Bhopal ruling’s foundation has eroded.

“The grounds for the 2000 district court order in the Bhopal royal property dispute became null and void, as the State of Rampur precedent no longer held,” he said.

The High Court’s decision to reopen the case reflects this shift in judicial interpretation. “Saif Ali Khan, by my calculation, will receive only 2 to 3 per cent of the Nawab’s property,” said Chavan. “The family isn’t left with much legal recourse now.”

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