Nestled in the lush green environs of Malabar Hill, the calm surroundings of the Jinnah House belies its troubled legacy. Mohammed Ali Jinnah lived in this house till he left for Pakistan in 1947.

His only daughter, Dina Wadia, was born in this bungalow on August 15, 1919. She has now moved the Bombay High Court to stake her claim on the bungalow, which is a bitter point between the governments of India and Pakistan.

However, today the unkempt bungalow with its moss-covered walls and overgrown garden is no reflection on the stately edifice that once hosted the likes of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.

The historic European-style building designed by architect Claude Batley was the venue for the watershed talks on the Partition of India in September 1944 between Jinnah and Gandhi. It was partially here that Jinnah and Nehru altered the course of India’s history.

Jinnah moved to Pakistan in March 1947 and died in September 1948 without fulfiling his wish to return to his Mumbai house to spend his last days. Dina married textile tsar Neville Wadia against her father’s wishes and stayed in India after Partition.

Jinnah House, which was originally called South Court, was taken over by the government and declared evacuee property in 1949.

Later it was allotted to the British High Commission which moved out in 1981. Since then, Pakistan has sought claim on Jinnah House to use it as its Consulate.

Dina and her son Nusli Wadia have made several representations to the government to regain possession of the bungalow.

The Supreme Court order of 2005 directing the government to restore the property of Raja of Mahmudabad near Lucknow after a 25-year-old court battle has given hope to the Wadias.

Her son Nusli Wadia has also filed an appeal under the Right to Information Act to get the papers of the bungalow.

Dina has also challenged the 1949 notification declaring Jinnah House to be evacuee property stating that it is based on a wrong premise that the house was bequeathed to Jinnah’s unmarried sister Fatima, who moved to Pakistan in 1947.

She claims Jinnah’s will was never probated and has no legal standing in India. Her petition states that the Displaced Persons Act has no application to Jinnah House as Jinnah was not given any property in Pakistan in lieu of the Mumbai bungalow.

It is claimed by the Centre that the Jinnah House was transferred by Ministry of Rehabilitation to Ministry of Works Housing and Supply against a credit and “a fair market value” of Rs 8.47 lakhs.

The petition also claims that in 2002 the Centre had sought advice from the then Attorney General on Dina Wadia’s claim on Jinnah House.

The attorney general had accepted her claim to be the sole legal heir and recommended that she be given a long lease of the bungalow on the conditions that she would not exploit the property commercially and use it as a Wadia family residence only.

However, in July 2002, the government changed and the lease was never executed.