Jinnah`s will may pose a hurdle in daughter's claim to house

Mumbai, Mar 30 (PTI) In a new twist in the case of
legal battle over the Jinnah House, the property of Pakistan's
founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the western city, a copy of his
will bequeathing the property to his sister was found
recently.
The will mentions that the leader bequeathed the
property to his sister Fatima Jinnah, an official said.
Dina Wadia, Jinnah's daughter, has laid claim to the
Jinnah House, a colonial bungalow on Mount Pleasant Road at
upmarket Malabar Hill in south Mumbai.
"The will dated May 30, 1939 and a copy of legal
certification from the Bombay High Court was found in the
records of the custodian of enemy property for India," Dinesh
Singh, in-charge of the custodian office in Mumbai, told PTI.
The High Court in 1962 had legally certified the will
as genuine and executed in Fatima's favour. "We have sent the
copy to the Ministry of External Affairs for their perusal,"
Singh said.
Dina (90), a British national and mother of
industrialist Nusli Wadia, approached the High Court in
August 2007 claiming rights to the bungalow on the ground that
her father had not left any will.
According to Dina, her father was a Khoja Muslim and
this sect followed the Hindu Law and not the Shariat Law.
Hence, the Hindu Succession law that leaves the property to
his daughter would be applicable and not the Islamic law where
the deceased's siblings also have a right over the property.
According to the Central government, after the
enactment of the Bombay Evacuee Act in 1949, Jinnah
House was declared as evacuee property and the government
became its owner.
The Central government, in its affidavit filed before
the High Court, had said it had decided to convert the house
into a South Asia centre for arts and culture. PTI