Jinnah bungalow case final hearing on Sept 23

The Bombay High Court on Monday admitted a petition filed by Mohammad Ali Jinnah's Dina Wadia, staking claim to a bungalow located in south Mumbai but refused to give her any interim relief.

The Bombay High Court on Monday admitted a petition filed by Mohammad Ali Jinnah's Dina Wadia, staking claim to a bungalow located in south Mumbai but refused to give her any interim relief.

HT Image

A division bench headed by Justice D K Deshmukh scheduled the case for final hearing on September 23.

The court also allowed the Union government, which currently is in possession of the house, to carry out repairs and renovation, after intimating Wadia about the work.

The court refused to give any interim relief to the petitioner, said government pleader D Nalavade.

Wadia had moved the high court last year, staking a claim on the bungalow saying she was the sole heir of Pakistan's founder-president.

But the Centre's stand is that Jinnah had given the bungalow to his sister Fatima by a 1939 will, and since Fatima migrated to Pakistan after Independence, the Indian government acquired it under Bombay Evacuee's Property Act 1949 by issuing a notification.

Meanwhile, the court today dismissed a fresh intervention application, filed by advocate Feroze Ansari, claiming to represent Indian citizens' interest.

The hearing of the case was partially over before division bench of the then chief Justice Swatanter Kumar, but as Justice Kumar was elevated to Supreme Court, fresh hearing would not begin.