Jinnah House battle

With the elevation of the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, Justice Swatanter Kumar to the Supreme Court, the battle for Jinnah House has been adjourned until February 2010, reported Daily News and Analysis (DNA) on December 18, 2009. Petitioner Dina Wadia, the 90-year-old daughter of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and the respondent (the union government) will have to argue their cases all over again.

"The matter will be heard by a newly constituted bench,” said Shrikant Doijole, Wadia’s advocate, as the same bench will not be available. "We will have to start arguments again,” confirmed Gopal Subramaniam, who represents the government. Wadia, a resident of the United Kingdom until 2007 when she moved the High Court, had been writing to the governments of both India and Pakistan since 1982 to hand over possession of Jinnah House which was constructed in 1917, DNA reports.

Senior counsel Fali Nariman had claimed on behalf of Wadia that "There is no will of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, neither original nor a certified copy.” He also argued that the government had wrongly declared the heritage property as evacuee property under the Evacuee Properties Act, 1949. "Jinnah died in 1948, before the Evacuee Properties Act was enacted in India. Hence his property was never an evacuee property.” Nariman also stated that Jinnah was a Khoja Muslim, a sect which follows the Hindu law and not the Shariat, according to the report.