Fate of Rs 15,000 crore properties inherited by Saif, family still in limbo, say lawyers

If an appeal is not filed by Bhopal Nawab's successors against the order of the Office of the Custodian of Enemy Property for India, the properties may come under the Centre's control

Bhopal: The fate of properties of Rs 15,000 crore owned by Bhopal’s erstwhile rulers and inherited by actor Saif Ali Khan and his family remains in limbo due to uncertainty over filing an appeal against an order of the Office of the Custodian of Enemy Property, lawyers have said.

If an appeal is not filed by Bhopal Nawab’s successors against the order of the Office of the Custodian of Enemy Property for India, the properties may come under the Centre‘s control, the lawyers said on Wednesday.

---

It is not yet clear whether they have filed an appeal before the Mumbai-based Office of the Custodian of Enemy Property, which comes under the Union Home Ministry, following a Madhya Pradesh High Court order of December 13, 2024 on the issue.

Saif Ali Khan‘s mother and noted actress Sharmila Tagore (Pataudi) and others had challenged in the HC the order dated February 24, 2015, of the Custodian of Enemy Property for India that termed the property of Bhopal Nawab as “Enemy Property”.

The authority under the Home Ministry had given its ruling on the ground that Nawab Muhammad Hamidullah Khan’s eldest daughter Abida Sultan Begum migrated to Pakistan following the Partition. Therefore, all such properties that she was supposed to succeed are enemy properties and vest in the Custodian of Enemy Property for India.

However, senior advocate and expert on merger of Nawab properties, Jagdish Chhavani, quoted an order dated January 10, 1962 that after the death of Hamidullah Khan in 1960, the Government of India recognised Sajida Sultan Begum “as such ruler, is the sole successor to all private properties, movable and immovable, held by Nawab Hamidullah. And the GoI have no objection to such properties being transferred to Sajida Sultan Begum.” Sajida Sultan Begum is the second daughter of Nawab Hamidullah and as the eldest daughter (Abida) migrated to Pakistan, Sajida became the owner of all such properties, he said.

Later, Sajida’s son Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi (Tiger Pataudi) became the successor of these properties and after him Saif Ali Khan is the owner of these properties, estimated to be valued at nearly Rs 15,000 crore.

But after the order of Custodian of Enemy Property, the ownership title became disputed which was challenged by Sharmila Tagore (Saif’s mother and Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi’s wife) in the high court in 2015.