Telangana HC dismisses plea in Salar Jung estate case

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has dismissed a plea filed by two women seeking to implead themselves as respondents in a civil suit related to the properties of Nawab Mir Yousuf Ali Khan, Salar Jung III, holding that reopening a compromise decree passed in 1959 was not legally permissible.

The applicants, Samana Fatima and Zainab Fatima, claimed to be great-granddaughters of Salar Jung III and sought to be added as respondents in the decades-old property dispute. They told the court that they were descendants of the former nobleman and were currently settled in Australia.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice NV Shravan Kumar recently heard the matter and passed orders rejecting their plea.

The bench observed that a compromise decree relating to the Nawab’s properties had already been passed in 1959. Allowing the implead petitions at this stage would effectively reopen the old civil suit instituted in 1958, which was impermissible in law, the court said.

The High Court also referred to the report submitted by a court commissioner appointed in 2025 as part of the resolution process in the long-pending civil suit.

The bench noted that the petitioners had failed to clarify objections raised by the registry and that there was a lack of clarity in the power of attorney submitted before the court.

It further observed that the petitioners’ mother, Muneerunnisa Begum, was not a party to the original proceedings as claimed by them.

HC cites SC judgements

Citing Supreme Court judgments, the High Court said that once rights are settled through a compromise decree, the dispute attains finality and cannot be reopened decades later on the same issue.