Court rejects Saif's plea against move to label ancestral assets 'enemy property'

In a setback for Saif Ali Khan, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has rejected the actor's long-standing plea challenging the government's decision to label his Rs 15,000-crore ancestral properties in the state as 'enemy property'. The High Court set aside a trial court order of 2000 that deemed Saif Ali Khan, his sisters Soha and Saba, and mother Sharmila Tagore as the successors to the ancestral properties.

It has directed the trial court to hear the property succession dispute afresh and set a



timeframe of one year. The Enemy Property Act of 1968 allows the central government to claim properties owned by individuals who migrated to Pakistan after Partition in 1947.

The Pataudi family claimed their lands in Bhopal and Raisen, which included Kohefiza's Flag House, Ahmedabad Palace, besides the Kothi and forest located in Chiklod, Raisen. They said that properties including Noor-e-Saba, Flag House, Dar-us-Salam, Four Quarters, New Quarters, Fars Khana, Kohefiza and Ahmedabad Palace belong to them.