Jinnah House is ours: Govt

Opposes ownership plea by daughter of Pakistan’s founder

MUMBAI: The government is not willing to give up its claim on Jinnah House, the sprawling Malabar Hill bungalow built by Pakistan’s founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah. In a 37-page affidavit filed in the Bombay high court on Thursday, the Centre strongly opposed the petition filed by Jinnah’s New York-based daughter, Dina Wadia, 88, staking claim to the bungalow as Jinnah’s sole legal heir.

Claiming to be the “legal owner” of Jinnah’s bungalow, the government stated Wadia does not have a legal claim to the property. Taking no chances with the highly-sensitive case, the government’s affidavit, it is learnt, has been vetted by the PMO itself.  

In her plea, Wadia labelled illegal the government’s move to take over Jinnah House by declaring it an ‘evacuee property’ alleging it was based on a wrong premise that Jinnah had willed the property to his sister Fatima, who was declared an evacuee when she left for Pakistan in 1947. Wadia contended that Jinnah’s will was never probated and thus had no legal standing in India.  

However, the government affidavit states that Jinnah’s will, which was executed on May 30, 1939, clearly bequeaths the bungalow to Fatima, who even obtained a succession certificate from the Bombay HC on January 11, 1962, for the execution of the will. She even paid income tax on the property. The fact that Fatima had taken steps to claim the property goes to prove that the Wadia was excluded from inheriting the property. Dina had married textile tsar Neville Wadia in 1938 against her father’s wishes and stayed in India after Partition. In 1962, she moved to the USA after separating from her husband.

The government’s stand is that Wadia’s petition is not maintainable as she is neither the evacuee nor the heir of an evacuee, whose property was taken over by the government.

Recognising that Jinnah is an important historical figure, the affidavit states that there are competing claims based on sentiments attached to his legacy like that of the Pakistan government, which wants to occupy Jinnah House for their Consulate.

“The Indian government respects these various sentiments, yet it cannot yield to each of them and it is in this spirit that it has decided to convert the bungalow into a South Asian Centre for Arts and Culture, which will foster and nurture shared cultural ethos of the South Asian region,” the affidavit states. The government is also undertaking renovation and restoration work estimated at Rs7 crores for the bungalow.