An out-of-court settlement effort, initiated by Sharmila Tagore, noted film actor and widow of late Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, has ended in stalemate. She was camping in Bhopal for the past four days to divide properties of Hamidullah Khan, the last Nawab of Bhopal.
Belonging to an erstwhile princely state, cricketing genius Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi’s family has had to face a number of disputes for quite a while in Bhopal. It is also learnt from sources that the royal family members no longer meet in Bhopal to make any other similar effort.
Sharmila returned to Delhi empty-handed, as a few members of the erstwhile Royal family have obtained a stay on their plea filed in Jabalpur High Court against sale of Flag Staff House and division of other properties.
Meanwhile a non-government organization is learnt to have submitted a memorandum to the governor of the State, Rameshwar Thakur, demanding to convert the properties of the royal family into a museum.
A few years back, Pataudi's Hyderabad-based sister Sahiba Sultan's request to stay at Flag Staff House was turned down by Pataudi's staff. The property covers seven acres at the posh locality of Idgah Hills and was once used to house the secretariat of Hamidullah Khan.
Earlier Sahiba Sultan promptly filed a civil suit in the local court of Additional District Judge NS Dixit, who had ruled that the bungalow was a joint property of the Nawab's descendants and she and her family had every right to stay there.
A double bench of High Court comprising Chief Justice M Khanwilkar and Justice KK Trivedi ordered Wednesday to issue notices to central government, state government and members of the ‘Nawab’ family.
Sources of the family also told BS that other members of the royal family including Pataudi’s son and daughter-in-law Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor opposed selling of Flag Staff House and other properties, which are of historic importance. Sharmila, sources told further, obtained certain valued articles, packed them and stored them in the Flag Staff House before leaving for Delhi.
The Pataudis are the former rulers of the princely states of Pataudi (Haryana) and Bhopal. Pataudi town near Gurgaon but their Bhopal link was established three generations ago when Nawab Iftekhar Ali Khan Pataudi married Begum Sajida Sultan (parents of Tiger Pataudi), the last regent of Bhopal.
After her death, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi aka Tiger Pataudi became the “Nawab of Bhopal” . The family continued to be considered as erstwhile rulers of Bhopal.
Saba Ali khan, the older but lesser known jewellery-designer daughter of Tiger Pataudi is the caretaker of the Rs 1,000-crore Auqaf-e-Shahi that looks after the Bhopal royals’ religious endowment. She is the first woman caretaker (Naazir) of the guesthouses (rubaat) set up by the royal family in Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
