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Hyderabad, Oct 23 (IANS) A Hyderabad court on Thursday rejected the interim plea of Azmeet Jah and Shekhar Jah in a case regarding division of the palaces of the seventh Nizam, Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan.
The City Civil Court allowed the partition case filed by Mir Osman Ali Khan’s grandson, Nawab Najaf Ali Khan, to be heard in full.
Azmet Jah and Shekhar Jah are the son and daughter of Prince Mukarram Jah alias Nawab Mir Barkat Ali Khan, the eighth Nizam of Hyderabad, who died in 2023.
He sought an order to dismiss the partition suit filed by Najaf Ali Khan, grandson of the seventh Nizam.
His counsel argued that the plaintiff, being one of the rightful heirs of the seventh Nizam, is in constructive possession of the ancestral properties, and the issues relating to possession, ownership and valuation can only be determined through a detailed trial on the merits.
The suit filed by Najaf Ali Khan seeks partition and separate possession of five of the most prominent and historic palaces of the seventh Nizam, including Falaknuma Palace, Chowmahalla Palace, Purani Haveli, King Kothi Palace and Harewood and Cedars Bungalow in Ooty, Tamil Nadu, which are worth over Rs 10,000 crore.
The suit includes 232 defendants, including Indian Hotels Company Pvt Ltd, which runs the seven-star hotel Taj Falaknuma Palace.
Najaf Ali Khan says that the property and inheritance of the seventh Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan belongs to all the legitimate heirs collectively and not to any one individual.
He had filed a suit in 2021 questioning the sole possession and enjoyment of the said properties by Prince Mukarram Jah.
Following the demise of the seventh Nizam on February 24, 1967, Prince Mukarram Jah was recognized by the Government of India as his grandfather’s successor.
Najaf Ali Khan argues that the private properties of the seventh Nizam should be divided among all his legal heirs according to Islamic Sharia law, and as such, his 34 children are entitled to a “matrilineal” inheritance.
–IANS
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