The Supreme Court has intervened in a long-standing legal dispute concerning the private estate of Nawab Hamidullah Khan, the last ruler of Bhopal and an ancestor of actor Saif Ali Khan. On Friday, a bench comprising Justices PS Narasimha and Atul S Chandurkar issued an order to pause the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s recent direction, which had sent the six-decade-old property case back to the trial court for fresh proceedings. Notices have been issued to members of the Nawab’s family, including Sharmila Tagore, her children Saif and Soha Ali Khan, and other descendants from the Nawab’s second daughter’s lineage.
The estate in question is reportedly worth over ₹15,000 crore and comprises palaces, jewellery, and extensive landholdings. The origin of the legal dispute traces back to Nawab Hamidullah Khan's death in 1962. While the Nawab’s eldest daughter, Sajida Sultan Begum, was declared the heir to the Bhopal throne in 1960 under the Bhopal Accession Act and the principle of primogeniture, the matter of private property inheritance has remained contentious.
In May this year, the Madhya Pradesh High Court ruled that the doctrine of primogeniture—where the eldest child inherits the entire estate—would not govern the distribution of the Nawab’s personal assets. Instead, the court determined that such property must be distributed according to Muslim personal law, which requires that inheritance be divided among all legal heirs, including children and siblings. The High Court referenced a 2019 Supreme Court ruling that had clarified that the rule of primogeniture does not apply to personal estates of former rulers. However, instead of distributing the property according to personal law, the High Court directed the case back to the trial court for a complete rehearing.
The legal battle over the property began in 2000, when the trial court recognized Saif Ali Khan and his sisters as rightful heirs through their mother, Sajida Sultan. This ruling was later challenged by other claimants, including the Nawab’s brother’s descendants and relatives from the second daughter’s line. They disputed Saif’s family’s claim to sole inheritance, arguing that succession to the throne did not guarantee rights to all private property.
The High Court, nearly 25 years later, overturned the trial court’s decision and ordered the case to be reopened and reheard. This decision has now been brought before the Supreme Court by the Nawab’s brother’s descendants, led by Omar Faruq Ali. Their argument is that once the High Court had concluded that Muslim personal law should govern the inheritance, it should have directly proceeded to apportion the estate among the heirs, rather than remanding the case for a fresh trial.
Senior advocate Devdatt Kamath and advocate Aadil Singh Boparai, representing the petitioners, contended that neither party had sought a retrial or the introduction of fresh evidence. They criticized the High Court’s move as unnecessary and cited the Supreme Court’s earlier judgment in the Talat Fatima case to argue that no new trial was warranted. They also highlighted that the High Court had imposed a restriction preventing any sale, transfer, or lease of the disputed property by any party until the matter is conclusively resolved.
The Supreme Court has now given the respondents, including members of Saif Ali Khan’s family, four weeks to file their responses. The matter is expected to be listed for hearing again in the second week of September.
