Hyderabad: A judge of the City Civil Court in Hyderabad dismissed a case filed by the Majlis-e-Sahebzadagan Society, representing about 4,500 descendants of the Asaf Jahi Nizam family, which sought a share in the wealth or properties in possession of the seventh and last Nizam of Hyderabad Mir Osman Ali Khan’s current descendants.
The society says it represents descendants of the first to sixth Nizams of Hyderabad, and essentially claimed a stake in properties – such as Chowmahalla and Falaknuma palaces – which are currently in possession of Azmet Jah. Azmet is the eldest son of Mukarram Jan Bahadur, who was made the heir of his grandfather, Osman Ali Khan, when he died in 1967.
Mukarram was made the titular eighth Nizam until the Centre in 1971 abolished all titles of former monarchs. He is also infamous for losing 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.
The case of the properties
The Sahebzadagan Society, in its lengthy case, tried to claim its share in a bunch of properties currently held by the descendants of Mir Osman Ali Khan. Interestingly, the claimants also submitted that an earlier judgment from 1967 stated that Mukarram Jah was not the only inheritor of Osman Ali Khan’s properties.
The other side, represented by Najaf Ali Khan, a grandson of Osman Ali Khan, stated that the society has no authorisation from all of the 4,500 people it claims to represent, calling the suit fraudulent.
Properties in question are private: Judge
R Dane Ruth, XI Additional Chief Judge, City Civil Court, Hyderabad, after looking at submissions from both sides, noted that there was no material on record to show that all of the people the society claimed to represent had provided authorisation. “There is no material to show that the individual members of the society possess any legal right in the suit properties,” stated the judgment dated January 22.
The judgment also noted that a society can claim rights that belong to the society as an entity and not representative rights of its members in individual capacities. It also noted that showing it has some history as a society, being formed in 1932, does not create any enforceable right for the petitioners.
The judge made clear that the trusts set up for the Nizam’s family were for their welfare and not relevant to the dispute. The properties in question, he said, were private ones that belonged to Osman Ali Khan personally.
“The petitioners must have direct interest over the subject matter but in the present case on hand there is no prima facie evidence for the right claimed by the petitioners,” stated the judgement, dismissing the case.
