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India, Nizam win 70-year-old case against Pakistan in UK High Court

The court rejected Pakistan's claim that the fund had been intended as "payment for arms shipments or as an outright gift"

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The UK High Court ruled in favour of India and the heirs of the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad on Wednesday in a 70-year-old case involving £35 million. One million pounds were deposited in a London bank in 1948 by the then Nizam, which is now worth the above value.

The court rejected Pakistan's claim that the fund had been intended as "payment for arms shipments or as an outright gift". "The Court has held that beneficial ownership in the fund as on 1948 lay with the 7th Nizam and that it had been held on trust to his benefit and that of his successors in the title since then," the External Affairs Ministry said on Wednesday.

India and the heir of the last Nizam of Hyderabad will get Rs 306,45,80,500 in the 'High Commissioner for Pakistan in the UK Vs Prince Mukarram Jah & others' case which is simply referred to as the 'Hyderabad fund case'. The fund was held in the account of the High Commissioner of Pakistan to the UK since September 1948 by the National Westminster Bank in London.

PRINCELY SUM

  • In 1948, Hyderabad’s foreign minister moved £1,007,940 to the account of the Pakistan High Commissioner to UK
     
  • Pakistan said the funds were payment for arms shipments during the rebellion in the state or an outright gift
     
  • The UK court rejected these arguments and ruled that India and the heirs of the last Nizam of Hyderabad will get over Rs 306 crore

"Nizam VII was beneficially entitled to the Fund and those claiming in right of Nizam VII — the Princes and India — are entitled to have the sum paid out to their order. I will leave it to the parties to frame an appropriate form of order for my approval," the judgement handed out by Justice Marcus Smith said.

On 20th September 1948, the foreign minister of the then princely state of Hyderabad, Nawab Moin Nawaz Jung, transferred £1,007,940 to the account of Habib Ibrahim Rahimtoola, the Pakistani High Commissioner to the UK. Pakistan said the funds were transferred as payments for arms shipments during the rebellion in the state or as an outright gift. The High Court held that "beneficial ownership" of the funds lay with the 7th Nizam, and now India and the Nizam's two grandsons were entitled to the fund.

"The Court rejected arguments advanced by Pakistan that the dispute was non-justiciable, either in whole or in part; that the doctrine of illegality somehow barred recovery; or that the claims of other parties were time-barred," the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. A dejected Pakistan has reacted to the judgement saying it is "examining all aspects of the detailed judgment and will take further action in light of legal advice received."

The case first came into focus in 1954, when Pakistan asserted its sovereignty saying the money was sent into the account of its then High Commissioner. In 2013, Pakistan commenced the present proceedings but waved off sovereignty or state immunity to claim ownership.

Pakistan had put up an application to discontinue the proceedings but the plea was dismissed by the High Court of Justice in London in 2015. The court also ordered Islamabad to pay India GBP 150,000 (Rs 1.31 crore) towards legal costs it incurred to defeat Pakistan's application.

Khawar Qureshi, Pakistan's lawyer at International Court of Justice for Kulbhushan Jadhav case was one of the lawyers in the Hyderabad fund case.

Zee Media Newsroom

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