Saif's enemy property case: How ancestor's migration can cost you
What's the story
In a groundbreaking judgment, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has declared that a large part of Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan's ancestral property in Bhopal is "enemy property" under the Enemy Property Act, 1968. This ruling prevents Khan and his heirs from claiming rights over properties worth more than ₹15,000 crore. The decision was made last week and has significant implications for cross-border inheritance. Let's understand how.
Historical migration
Why Khan lost claim over the properties
The court's ruling is based on the historical migration of Khan's great-aunt, Begum Abida Sultan, who was the eldest daughter of Nawab Hamidullah Khan. She moved to Pakistan in 1950 after Partition and later became a Pakistani diplomat. The court ruled that her migration automatically brought her Indian properties under the purview of the Enemy Property Act, which vests such properties with the Custodian of Enemy Property for India (CEPI), a department under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Property dispute
Disputed properties include Noor-Us-Sabah Palace, Flag Staff House
The disputed properties include several iconic structures in Bhopal, such as the Flag Staff House, Noor-Us-Sabah Palace, and Dar-us-Salam. These were part of the vast estate of the former Nawab of Bhopal. Khan, who is a descendant through Nawab Hamidullah's younger daughter Sajida Sultan, was declared a legal heir in a 2000 judgment. However, this ruling has now been set aside by the High Court, which has ordered a fresh civil trial to determine succession rights.
Legal implications
What is the Enemy Property Act?
The Enemy Property Act, 1968, was enacted during India's wars with Pakistan and China. It allows the Indian government to take control of properties owned by nationals of "enemy" countries. A 2017 amendment made the law stricter by preventing any legal recourse for heirs and empowering the government to sell or dispose of such properties. The law considers only the nationality of the original titleholder—in this case, Abida Sultan—making claims by subsequent Indian-born heirs invalid.
Legal challenges
HC's clarification on inheritance of enemy property
The court has made it clear that once a property is vested under the Enemy Property Act, it cannot be inherited, sold, or transferred by heirs regardless of their nationality or residence status. This means that even if Khan and his family are Indian citizens, they cannot inherit these properties because Abida Sultan was the last rightful owner, and she became a Pakistani national.
Learnings
So, what do we learn from Saif's case?
As per the Enemy Property Act, even if you are an Indian-born direct heir of a property, you cannot inherit if the individual who originally owned the property became an enemy national, legal experts told Business Standard. Interestingly, this holds even if you had no contact with the original owner, lived in, and paid taxes on the property. To summarize, as soon as the heir migrates to an enemy country, their property becomes the government's property, canceling out inheritance chances.