HC allows Wadia to replace his mom as petitioner

JINNAH HOUSE ROW

The Bombay High Court has allowed Wadia Group chairman Nusli Neville Wadia to replace his late mother Dina Wadia as a petitioner in a case she has filed to claim the ownership of Muhammad Ali Jinnah's house here.

A division bench of Justices Ranjit More and Anuja Prabhudessai allowed yesterday an application filed by Nusli Wadia seeking to replace his mother as the petitioner following her death last year.

The Union government had opposed Nusli Wadia's plea.

'Jinnah House', a seafront bungalow on Malabar Hill in south Mumbai built by Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, has been at the centre of a prolonged legal battle between Jinnah's daughter Dina Wadia and the Indian government.

Dina Wadia had in August 2007 approached the high court claiming that being the sole legal heir of Jinnah, she should get the possession of the house.

After she passed away on November 2, 2017 in New York at the age of 98, Nusli Wadia sought to replace her.

The industrialist relied on his mother's will dated April 16, 2009, where he was appointed as the executor.

Union government's counsel, Adwait Sethna, opposed the application, arguing that Nusli Wadia had not obtained probate of the will (probate is certification of a will as valid by the high court), so he could not substitute his mother in the case.