Overview

• The Madhya Pradesh High Court on June 30 set aside the 2000 trial court decree that had recognized Saif Ali Khan and his family as heirs to the Nawab of Bhopal’s estate.
• Justice Sanjay Dwivedi found that the lower court relied on a 1996 Allahabad High Court judgment which the Supreme Court overruled in 2019.
• The court ordered the trial court to re-examine competing succession claims under Muslim Personal Law and the 1947 princely succession statute within one year.
• Until the fresh hearing is completed, the Pataudi family cannot legally enforce any ownership rights over the properties, which include palaces, hotels and thousands of acres around Bhopal.
• A separate challenge to the Custodian of Enemy Property’s 2015 classification of the estate remains pending before the Ministry of Home Affairs appellate authority.