Mystery of the missing will

"Where is Jinnah’s will?” senior counsel Fali Nariman asked the Bombay High Court on September 24, 2009 while representing the Pakistan founder’s daughter Dina Wadia who has moved the court seeking return of the Malabar Hill bungalow owned by her father, reported The Times of India (TOI) on September 25, 2009.

Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah Print courtesy: Ardeshir Cowasji of Karachi

The matter is significant since in the "will” dated March 30, 1939 Jinnah had apparently left Jinnah House to his sister Fatima. On the basis of this Fatima was declared an evacuee and Jinnah House became evacuee property. However, "No will has been produced,” Nariman noted. Despite letters to the government to allow inspection of the will, there has been no response, he told the court. In its affidavit the government wrote that the will was "widely documented and a historic record” while citing extracts from several books to substantiate its existence. Nariman argued that "though a succession certificate was issued by the High Court in 1962, it was an ex parte order and could not be treated as proof” of the will, reported TOI.

Since the Hindu Succession Act applies to the Khoja Muslim community to which Jinnah belonged, Wadia could inherit the property. If Jinnah had died intestate, according to the law, Wadia would be the sole heir, Nariman informed the court.