Revision plea challenging division of Nizam properties dismissed

The children of Mukarram Jah, the eight titular Nizam who died in 2023, are now locked in a legal battle for possession of the family's palaces.

Hyderabad: In a major blow to Azmet Jah and Shekhyar Jan, children of of Mukarram Jah the eight Nizam who passed away in 2023, the Telangana High Court dismissed their attempt to challenge the dismissal of their petition by a lower court on the matter of family member Najaf Ali Khan’s long standing case seeking a piece of family properties belong as per the law. Azmet is the elder son of Mukarram Jah, who was made the ‘ninth’ Nizam after his father passed away.

On Wednesday, September 23, Najaf Ali Khan in a statement said that Azmet and Shekhyar Jah’s revision dismissal was a “setback” in the matter, and that the Telangana High Court had cleared the way for his partition suit over the seventh Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan’s (died in 1967) palaces to proceed to full trial. In his case, Najaf has sought a partition and separate possession of five of the most prominent and historically significant palaces of the Osman Ali Khan, the last Nizam of Hyderabad

The properties over which the entire case is being fought are: Falaknuma Palace, Chowmohalla Palace, Purani Haveli, King Kothi Palace, and Harewood and Cedars Bungalow situated in Tamil Nadu. Osman Ali Khan died in 1967, after which his eldest grandson Mukarram Jah Bahadur was made the eight titular Nizam, a title he held till 1971 until the government of India abolished princely state titles.

Mukarram jah is also infamous for losing a chunk of his money, given that he had inherited a vast sum of money and properties from Osman Ali Khan, who was once the world’s richest man in the 1930s. In fact, Mukarram Jah had also bypassed his father, Azam Jah, to take it over. His four children alive today are (fathered via different wives): Azmet Jah , Shekhyar Jah, Azam Jah and Nilufer. Of them Azmet and Shekhyar are from his ex-wife Princess Esra, who for the longest time has been a custodian of the properties.

According to Najaf Ali Khan, who is a grandson of Mir Osman Ali Khan, his petition seeking division of the properties was challenged by Azmet and Shekhyar via “so called” general power of attorney holders (GPA) holders, Mohammed Abul Faiz Khan and Mohammed Fateh Faiz Bin Jung.

“Rejecting the challenge, the Hon’ble High Court held that its supervisory jurisdiction under Article 227 of the Constitution “is not to be substituted in form of an appellate jurisdiction,” and can be invoked only where there is a jurisdictional error or a finding so contrary to law as to be perverse. The Hon’ble Court recorded that the Plaintiff “prima facie has been able to make out the fact that he is also having a share in the suit schedule property,” and held that the question of court fee “could be decided only in the course of trial after the parties lead their own evidence.” The Hon’ble Court concluded that “no strong case calling for an interference at this juncture” had been made out,” said Najaf Ali Khan in his statement.

He stated that the Telangana High Court has said in the “clearest terms” that these questions (of properties) must be decided on evidence and that the properties of his grandfather Mir Osman Ali Khan belong “collectively” to all legitimate heirs and not just to any one individual. “I have always asked only for a trial on merits, and I am confident that the truth will prevail,” he added.

It may be noted that Mukarram Jah’s other son Azam Jah has also filed a petition since his father’s death seeking his rightful share in the properties.